General Health

[patrick303]

My stepdaughter age 30 just passed away yesterday from this disease and was only told she had Lupus four months ago. Please tell me what is Lupus and why there is no cure.

[xyz8]

lupus is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. This results in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs.
and I'm sorry to hear about ur daughter ...
There is no cure for lupus, but, in most cases, the disease can be managed. Because of better detection and early treatment, between 80% and 90% of people with lupus can look forward to a normal lifespan, according to the LFA.

"Although the overall outlook has improved, it is a disease that must be monitored very carefully," says David Isenberg, M.D. "It has a major effect on quality of lives, and a smaller, but significant, number of people still die from it."

[kittycoke]

Lupus runs the spectrum from mild to severe and can affect heart lungs and kidneys. Primarily affects young women but can affect men as well. Most women who have this go undiagnosed for many years as I did for 20 yrs. Sorry for your loss and this disease is treatable but without close physician following can be deadly.

[geminigirl1963]

I'm sorry to hear of your stepdaughter's passing.

Lupus is an auto immune disease where the body basically thinks its own tissues, organs, etc. are foreign objects and reacts to them.  There are different types of lupus and it can affect different people differently and each flare of lupus can be different from the last flare.

Fortunately, death from lupus is not a majorly common occurence, however, as I said, it can affect everyone differently and it does also depend on which type of lupus the person has.  Do you know specifically what type of lupus your stepdaughter had?

Had she been having symptoms for a long time or had she just recently gotten sick?

Unfortunately, there is no "cure" for lupus, however, with medication, the disease can sometimes go into "remission" so to speak, where the symptoms diminish and the bloodwork gets better.  There are many differently medications used for lupus, but a lot of them work to suppress the immune system, since it's the immune system that has basically gone off kilter thinking that your own body is a foreign object.

Again, I'm very sorry for your loss - please accept my condolences.