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Adapted from a presentation to the SLE Workshop at Hospital for Special Surgery The evolving understanding of brain fog in lupus By Michael D. Lockshin, MD In the 1960s, all of the brain symptoms associated with lupus (also known as systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE), including dysfunctions in thinking and memory, seizures, strokes, and psychoses, were considered toContinue reading “Lupus Fog – Changes in Memory and Thinking”

With lupus, the immune system attacks instead of protects the body, including the brain and nervous system. Lupus and its treatments can impair mental & emotional health. Neuropsychiatric lupus affects80-90% of people with lupus. Neuropsychiatric lupus describes feelings of depression, headaches, and lupus fog — trouble thinking or remembering due to lupus.  25% of lupusContinue reading “5 Facts about Lupus & Mental Health”

If you’ve been diagnosed with lupus, treatment is probably your biggest concern. Treating lupus is a team effort — so you and your doctors will work together to find the treatment plan that’s right for you. While there’s no cure for lupus right now, having the right treatment plan can help: How can I find theContinue reading “Treating lupus: a guide”

Lupus affects different people in different ways. Many people with lupus have problems with the heart, lungs, and blood. How does lupus affect the heart, lungs, and blood? Your heart, blood vessels, and lungs work together to circulate blood throughout your body. Lupus can affect each of these body parts in different ways. Lupus andContinue reading “Lupus and the Heart, Lungs, and Blood”

Anemia happens when your blood doesn’t carry enough oxygen to your body — usually because your blood isn’t making enough healthy red blood cells. Although anyone can get anemia, it’s more common in people who have lupus. In fact, anemia affects about half of all people with active lupus. The good news is anemia isContinue reading “What you need to know about anemia”

How common is lupus and who does it affect? 9 out of 10 adults with lupus are women 1 in 3 lupus patients suffer from multiple autoimmune diseases What are the 4 different forms of lupus? What is the impact of health disparities on people with lupus? Lupus is two to three times more prevalent among African American,Continue reading “Lupus facts and statistics”

Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the kidneys, leading to inflammation and possibly to organ damage. Inflammation of the kidneys can harm the ability of the overall renal (kidney) system to properly remove waste from blood, maintain the correct amount of bodyContinue reading “What is lupus nephritis?”

Thrombocytopenia means that there aren’t enough platelets in the blood. Platelets (or thrombocytes) are very small cells that help the blood clot and heal the body from injuries. If you have lupus, you’re more likely to develop thrombocytopenia because your immune system attacks healthy platelets. Talk with your doctor if you’re worried about thrombocytopenia. What are the symptomsContinue reading “Lupus and Thrombocytopenia”

It’s important for everyone with lupus to eat healthy. But if you have lupus nephritis (a kidney disease caused by lupus), you may need to make some specific changes to your eating habits.  Some of these changes depend on how well your kidneys are working. Your doctor can do blood tests to see if your kidneys are having troubleContinue reading “Eat Healthy When You Have Lupus Nephritis”

Lupus is not a form of arthritis, but it does include arthritis as one of the most common symptoms, so it is easy to see why some people think about it that way. It is very important not to make this mistake, because lupus is quite different than any other illness that causes arthritis. ItContinue reading “How lupus differs from arthritis”