World Lupus Day

May is Lupus Awareness Month.  May 10 is World Lupus Day.

A few days ago, I started experiencing the all-too-familiar signs of a lupus flare ramping up.  My joints started aching, and I started having hives around my hairline and neck.  Sure enough, I woke up with my skin feeling like it was sunburned.  When I got out of bed, I noticed my thighs were covered with red blotches.  My back and arms were red and lumpy.  My feet and shins had new vasculitis lesions.  I was covered in sweat and running a low grade fever.

There’s nothing I can do about this flare.  I just have to deal with it and hope it doesn’t get worse like last year.  I’ve blown through all the pharmaceutical options to treat lupus.  My insurance carrier is reviewing a “second level” appeal from my doctor for IVIG therapy.  It is the only therapy that works for me.  If this second appeal is denied, I will be out of luck.

Did you know that in the last 50 years, there have been no new drugs developed specifically to fight lupus?  Currently, the only drugs on the market used to specifically treat lupus are Plaquenil, prednisone and aspirin.  How pathetic is that?  Instead, doctors have had to use “off label” medications like chemotherapy and other immune suppressors to fight lupus. All have toxic side effects.  Sometimes I don’t know if the drugs are worse than the disease itself.

The video  below is entitled  Faces of Lupus. Pray for a cure.