Early Symptoms of Lupus

Lupus is an autoimmune disorder, associated with the production of abnormal antibodies that recognize the body cells and tissues as foreign invaders and hence, attack them. So, lupus is a disease, where the body cells and tissues are attacked by the immune system itself. The disease can affect any part of the body including, skin, joints, blood cells and internal organs like the kidneys, heart and lungs.

What is lupus
Lupus also known as SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune rheumatic disease that affects all the systems of the body. This disease affects women more often than men and children. The very early symptoms of lupus are mild enough to be brushed aside as insignificant since they do not affect your daily activities. However the collective discomfort caused by these meek signs is worth addressing until you find a convincing cause.

Types of lupus
The different types of lupus are discoid lupus, systemic lupus, drug-induced lupus and neo-natal lupus. When the disease affects only the skin, it is known as discoid lupus, while an involvement of the internal organs is termed as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). As the name suggests, drug induced lupus is associated with the intake of certain drugs, while the lupus that affects newborns is called neonatal lupus. In cases of a drug allergy, the symptoms are totally reversible after drug withdrawal.

Early symptoms of SLE
SLE symptoms can start all of a sudden or gradually, and are generally found to subside for a while and then again reappear. Since, it is mistaken for other diseases it is also called a 'great imitator'. However some of the early symptoms of lupus are as follows:

Fatigue Malaise Hair loss Easy bruising Sudden weight loss or gain Facial Rash: This may be the first symptom of SLE and also persistent, unlike the rest of the signs that tend to flare up and subside. The skin rash ranges from mild blush to scaling and itching. Photosensitivity - The sun-exposed parts of the face and neck develop redness or rashes. Skin becomes sensitive to UVA-UVB sunrays as well as the UV rays from bulbs and lamps. Blue, red or white coloration at the fingertips is seen on exposure to cold climate or cold water. This sign known as the Raynaud's phenomenon is also seen at other peripheral regions like tip of nose, ears and feet.

Additional symptoms affecting various organs
To diagnose lupus, it is extremely important for the patient to communicate all information regarding the symptoms. Based on medical history and blood tests, the doctor would be able to diagnose lupus disease. Here are some symptoms of lupus that the patient may suffer:

Fever Anemia Depression Mouth ulcers Low platelet count Blood clotting tendency Joint pain and swelling Stiffness in joints and muscle pain Butterfly skin rash on the cheeks and nose Chest pain or breathing difficulty Neurological symptoms like confusion and epileptic attack Miscarriages

Your physician first needs to rule out the possibility of other illnesses that tend to mimic SLE. Also, if the lab diagnostics done in the early phase are negative, it becomes very tricky to assert the presence of lupus. However, once SLE is confirmed, a treatment regimen needs to be meticulously followed to make the disease self-limited. Lupus fatality rate has significantly decreased in the last 25 years mainly due to timely diagnoses, effective lab facilities and availability of better drugs. The disease prognosis has greatly increased with recent advances in the field of medicine, and SLE can even go into remission. Also, one needs to keep a watch on the signs of relapse since SLE tends to show flare ups from time to time just like arthritis.