Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which your body attacks healthy cells, putting your health — and even your life — at risk.
The most common and serious type of lupus is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE can affect and shut down organs and cause blood clotting. Other types of lupus are:
Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) affects sun-exposed skin by causing disc-like lesions.
Drug-induced lupus occurs after you take certain medications, including procainamide.
If you’re a pregnant woman with lupus, you may pass autoantibodies to your infant at birth. When you have lupus, your OB/GYN takes special precautions to keep you and your baby healthy throughout pregnancy and delivery by labeling your pregnancy as “high risk.”
No matter what type of lupus you have, our board-certified rheumatologists and team at the Rheumatology Center of New Jersey understand that getting a diagnosis of lupus can be overwhelming and confusing.
At our offices in Monroe, Flemington, and Somerville, New Jersey, we help you manage your disease and dispel common myths about lupus.
Fact: Women are nine times more likely to develop lupus than men are, but men aren’t immune from this serious autoimmune disease. Out of every 10 patients with lupus, one is a man.
Of the 5 million people with lupus around the world, most are also people of color, but anyone of any race can develop lupus.
Fact: Cancer occurs when mutant cells replicate out of control, taking over and killing healthy cells. Lupus has an entirely different mechanism of action. When you have lupus, your immune system attacks your healthy cells, mistaking them for pathogens.
Lupus isn’t a type of cancer, nor is it related to cancer, but having lupus may raise your cancer risk. An increased risk for cervical cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma is associated with lupus. Also, the immunosuppressants you use to control lupus may increase your cancer risk.
Fact: Lupus that affects your skin may cause rashes. In particular, the disease is known for a specific type of rash that spreads over your nose and cheeks, called a “butterfly rash.”
But you can’t catch lupus, even if you touch that rash. The rash isn’t the result of a transmissible pathogen. It’s caused by the person’s immune system attacking their skin.
You also can’t catch lupus by being exposed to people with lupus in other ways. Lupus is a self-contained disease that can’t be transmitted to others. But lupus sometimes runs in families, which suggests its development may have a genetic component.
Fact: Even though both lupus and HIV/AIDS affect your immune system, they do so in completely different ways. If you have HIV, your immune system is underactive, which leaves you vulnerable to infections.
With lupus, your immune system is overactive. Instead of targeting pathogens in your body, such as viruses, your immune system targets your own healthy cells.
Fact: You should still be able to have children, even if you have lupus. Some women with lupus find that their estrogen levels are too high, which may make conception more difficult. But we could recommend short-term hormone therapy to balance out your estrogen and increase your chances of conception.
Any pregnancy that occurs in a woman with lupus is labeled “high risk.” This ensures you get the extra monitoring and tests you need to keep you and your baby healthy.
Fact: Although you can manage your lupus symptoms by identifying triggers and adopting lifestyle changes to increase your overall health, nobody has yet found a cure for lupus. In fact, researchers still aren’t sure why and how the disease develops in certain people.
But doctors do have a number of effective medications that can help control a flare or reduce your chances of the next one. We work with you on a case-by-case basis by helping you make lifestyle changes and, if necessary, taking drugs to manage your disease.
If you have lupus, get the facts on how best to manage your disease by contacting our office nearest you for a lupus consultation today.
