The prognosis of lupus can be relatively variable, but for most patients, it isn’t particularly grim. In many cases, treatments are available that will allow lupus patients to live normal lives, and it doesn’t usually affect a person’s lifespan. There are cases of lupus that are more severe. Sometimes it will very aggressively attack important organs, but this is fairly unusual, and even in those cases, there are often ways to keep the disease under control. The prognosis of lupus worsens if the patient doesn’t take the proper precautions and use the treatments recommended by doctors.
One reason the prognosis of lupus isn’t particularly bad is because the disease isn’t usually that severe. The majority of patients don’t have to deal with the most severe consequences of lupus, and many of them only have occasional periods where symptoms are acute. The use of steroids for inflammation and antimalarial drugs has also helped improve the prognosis of lupus for some patients.
Lupus is the result of a confusion in the immune system that causes it to attack the body’s organs. This normally results in damage and inflammation, which can lead to a wide variety of symptoms. Many lupus patients feel exhausted for no reason, and they often have arthritic pain in their extremities, along with various rashes. These symptoms usually come and go periodically, and the frequency of symptom outbreaks varies a lot from one patient to another. Some doctors use treatments to weaken a person’s immune system as a way of lessening the symptoms of lupus, but that approach is normally reserved for severe cases.
Sometimes lupus patients can minimize outbreaks by staying away from the sun. Most people with lupus have a problem with tolerating sunlight, and even though they may not be aware of it, sunlight can worsen or increase lupus symptoms. People with lupus are also often advised to avoid certain substances, like alcohol, for example.
Most people who suffer from lupus are women, but occasionally, it affects men as well. It’s also much more common among people with African, Latin, Native American, and Asian descent. There are several different kinds of lupus, and the causes are still mysterious. Some doctors think there is a genetic connection, and some cases of lupus are actually caused by medical allergies. When it is caused by an allergic reaction to medicine, it will usually go away if the person gives up the offending drug, but this is the only kind of lupus that is curable.