Gender Medicine: Women and Lupus (Erythematosus)
Lupus ‘bites’ and in the grip of its ‘jaws remain imprisoned’ especially young women. The male/female ratio affected by the disease is, in fact, 1 to 9 and, focusing only on the fairer sex, in 8 cases out of 10, the patient is aged between 15 and 45
Symptoms and diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus can be responsible for joint pain, easy fatigability, fevers, skin manifestations, hair loss, anaemia, miscarriages, nephritis, tendonitis, pleurisy, pericarditis, neurological or psychiatric disorders.
A patient with SLE generally shows signs of a multi-system involvement, although the course of the disease is different from patient to patient, irregular and unpredictable, with “unexplained” remissions or flare-ups.
There is no specific diagnostic test.
The diagnosis is a jigsaw puzzle of many small pieces that the doctor must be able to put back together, with an overall view, to the same pathology.
It may happen that it can be mistaken for pleurisy, a neurological disorder or a simple allergy to the sun.
Unfortunately, the diagnosis of SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) often comes too late.
What causes this is our own antibodies, or rather a part of them, which for as yet unknown causes ‘go crazy’ and attack our own organism.
So little by little the disease spreads and can affect various organs: skin, kidneys, lungs, central nervous system, blood vessels and heart.
The precise mechanisms that cause these alterations are not entirely known; however, it seems that, for an individual who already has a genetic predisposition, there may be certain circumstances that activate the disease.
Factors of external and/or internal origin, such as exposure to the sun, an infection of viral or bacterial origin, certain medications.
Or: a trauma, injury, surgery, psychological shock or a stressful period in life.
All can contribute to triggering or modifying an autoimmune process. Hormonal factors and their variations (puberty, pregnancy, menopause) also seem to be very important, given the higher incidence in females of childbearing age.
Lupus and pregnancy
In the past, for women suffering from lupus, the road to pregnancy was practically precluded, mainly because of the possibility of transmitting the disease to the baby.
It is called neonatal lupus: at birth, the mother transmits the ‘incriminating’ antibodies to the baby through the placenta, which can trigger the disease in the baby.
Nowadays, having a baby is no longer taboo for these women, but they must be watched very closely and the pregnancy must be planned during a period of remission from the disease, so as to avert the danger to the baby and avoid resorting to drugs during pregnancy.
Beware of lupus…
Lupus is the Latin word for wolf, and refers to the characteristic butterfly-shaped rash found on the face of many SLE patients, which reminded doctors of the white markings on the snout of wolves.
According to others, the scarring lesions following the rash resembled those left by the bites or scratches of wolves.
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