Being a very serious disease, systemic lupus erythematosus symptoms can manifest in different ways. Often people at first do not pay attention to pain, problems with immunity. This is the danger of the disease. There is a certain category of people who are at risk and who can get SLE. What are the symptoms and diagnosis of this disease?
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Symptoms we will consider later. From the beginning, you need to understand who and how this disease affects. SLE is an autoimmune disease that provokes inflammatory processes. This happens when the immune system begins to perceive the cells of its own body as hostile and attacks them. Due to such a reaction of immunity to the body, organ damage in a severe form occurs. The disease got its name because of the main symptom - large red foci that resemble a bite of a wolf.
At risk are most women from twenty to forty years. Moreover, this disease is more common in black patients, but less often in whites. But at the same time, in principle, everyone can get sick. SLE usually proceeds in a chronic form and requires a long and difficult treatment. Exacerbations may occur periodically. In such cases, prolonged anti-inflammatory therapy is performed.
Development reasons
Despite the advancement of modern technology and research methods, the reasons why a person has systemic lupus erythematosus, the symptoms of which in most cases do not immediately manifest themselves, have not yet been clarified. At the heart of the disease is a chronic autoimmune process, inflammation, which causes an antibody to develop immunity to its DNA. So, the destruction of the cells of the connective tissues of not only the skin, but also of entire organs, systems. That is why SLE is manifested by many symptoms. Doctors, even knowing the whole clinical picture, often think about this disease in the last turn. Therefore, you should know how systemic lupus erythematosus appears.
Symptoms
It begins with the defeat of one or several organs at once. From this moment, the primary symptoms appear in the form of pain in the joints and muscles, edema, which can be associated with arthritis, rash on the nose and cheeks in the form of a "butterfly". These will be red persistent spots, plaques, which can also appear on the scalp. Hair loss occurs in several foci. Ulcers appear on the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose. Patients feel skin especially sensitive to light. Further, depressive states, psychoses, anxiety, accompanied by decreased vision, nausea and diarrhea, can occur. One of the most frequent complaints of patients is fever, headaches, weakness and fatigue. If there is a suspicion of such a disease, you should immediately contact a specialist. Folk remedies do not treat systemic lupus erythematosus.
Laboratory diagnostics
To begin with, the doctor performs a detailed examination and questioning of the patient. Next, special diagnostic procedures are prescribed based on the available symptoms. Without fail, blood tests for antinuclear antibodies and for DNA will be prescribed. A study of blood biochemistry and analysis of urine. This is how systemic lupus erythematosus is determined. Analyzes in this case will have to be repeated several times in order to track the course of the disease and its dynamics.
Patient's actions
If you find symptoms of a similar nature in yourself or someone close, you need to immediately contact a therapist who will confirm or refute the diagnosis. If systemic lupus erythematosus, the symptoms of which you already know, is confirmed, you need to carefully monitor your well-being.
SLE and pregnancy
Patients who are pregnant or just about to become pregnant should consult a doctor in advance. This disease has its own characteristics of the course both during pregnancy and during childbirth. This disease is not a sentence at all. Although it is not completely cured, it can be transferred to the stage of remission. With the right and responsible approach to treatment, the patient can normally endure and give birth to a child without complications.