May is Lupus Awareness Month
Posted in News on 11/14/2012
We are celebrating Lupus Awareness Month with a month long online campaign to spread awareness about the symptoms of lupus, the most common and uncommon side effects, statistics on lupus from our National Lupus Alliance of America Survey and more.
With your help through your Facebook page, Twitter and Blogs we can reach thousands of people with the Facts about Lupus. So many people, thanks to Dr. House know the name Lupus now, but most still don`t know what it does, how it is treated, and who it effects.
Below are Facts about Lupus, one for every day of the month of May. Each day we will post one fact on our social media pages. We hope that all of you will re-post them, re-tweet them and even make them your status` for the day!
We also have 5 Lupus Awareness Month profile pictures that you can choose from and post on your twitter, facebook and blog, and you can even link your pics to this page so people can learn even more about lupus!
To get these pictures, you can copy them from our facebook page, or right click the images below to save them to your computer.
31 facts about Lupus
- 1. Over 2 Million Americans have Lupus
- 2. Over 90% of those with lupus are women
- 3. Benlysta, is the first new medication approved for the treatment of lupus, in over 55 years.
- 4. Aspirin was the only drug approved for lupus up until 1955 when Plaquenil was also approved.
- 5. Children as young as infants are diagnosed with lupus
- 6. Children who are diagnosed with lupus have a higher rate of kidney involvement than those who are diagnosed in adulthood.
- 7. Lupus is more common than MS, Cystic Fibrosis, Cerebral Palsy, and Sickle cell anemia combined.
- 8. Lupus is NOT infectious, rare or cancerous
- 9. Although the cause of lupus is unknown, scientists suspect that individuals are genetically predisposed to lupus, and know that environmental factors such as infections, antibodies, ultraviolet light, extreme stress and certain drugs play a critical role in triggering lupus.
- 10. Lupus is more prevalent in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians.
- 11. In an autoimmune disease like lupus, the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against “self.”
- 12. Lupus affects 1 out of every 185 Americans and strikes adult women 10-15 times more frequently than adult men
- 13. Some symptoms of lupus can be transient joint and muscle pain, fatigue, a rash caused by or made worse by sunlight, low-grade fevers, seizures, hair loss, pleurisy, appetite loss, memory loss, sores in the nose or mouth or painful sensitivity of the fingers to the cold.
- 14. Out of the 1780 people who participated in the Lupus Alliance National Survey in 2010, 11% reported they had a cousin who also has lupus, 6% had mother`s who also have lupus, and 5% had sisters who also have lupus.
- 15. The five most frequent symptoms in the LAA Lupus Survey are fatigue (93%), joint pain (92%), muscle pain (80%), headache (71%), and confusion/forgetfulness (70%).
- 16. Participants in the LAA National Survey also reported receiving a secondary diagnosis of what are commonly referred to as overlapping conditions. The most prevalent are arthritis (51.8%), Raynaud's phenomenon (44%), Fibromyalgia (36%), Anemia (31%), and Sjogren's syndrome (28%).
- 17. There is no single test to diagnose lupus. It may take months or years for a doctor to make a diagnosis of lupus.
- 18. The unique pattern of symptoms associated with lupus has caused some to say that lupus is like a snowflake. No two cases are alike.
- 19. Typical treatments for lupus include steroids, painkillers, anti-malarials, and immunosuppressant's
- 20. If left untreated, lupus is potentially fatal, due to organ damage and failure. Serious conditions that arise include kidney disease, pancreatitis, pleurisy, vasculitis, pericarditis, and cancer.
- 21. Lupus is one of America’s least recognized major diseases. While Lupus is widespread, awareness and accurate knowledge about it lags decades behind many other illnesses.
- 22. More than 16,000 Americans are diagnosed with lupus each year.
- 23. Some of the factors that may trigger lupus include infections, antibiotics, ultraviolet light / sunlight, extreme stress, certain drugs, and hormones.
- 24. The majority of the symptoms of lupus are internal. therefore, it is hard to identify a person with lupus by outward appearance
- 25. Fatigue is a common symptom of lupus that is often misdiagnosed as depression or another disorder.
- 26. According to the LAA National Survey, The Majority of respondents reported that it took nearly 7 years from when they first experienced symptoms until the time of diagnosis.
- 27. From the LAA National Survey, over 75% of participants reported that they frequently need someone to take over or assist them with tasks or chores when they are not feeling well.
- 28. From the LAA National Survey, nearly 70% of those surveyed reported that their employment has been affected because of their lupus, with 36% stating they are no longer able to work.
- 29. According to the LAA National Survey almost 40% of the participants reported they were hospitalized in the past five years due to their lupus.
- 30. According to the LAA National Survey 30% reported that they had a blood relative who also had lupus.
- 31. Help someone with lupus by supporting your local chapter of the Lupus Alliance of America, by purchasing life without lupus bracelets, magnets, seals and more. Every dollar goes towards research, support and counseling, financial assistance, children`s groups and more.
