I recently stumbled upon a wonderfully done item on the New York Times web site about lupus. In “Patient Voices: Lupus” from December 16, 2010, the Times hosts a series of six different lupus patients, as they briefly tell their own stories in audio slide show format. The discussion begins with a young science writer who learned she had [...]
Cooking healthy, affordable, easy-to-prepare dinners is a challenge for every lupus patient at the end of long day. Evening lupus fatigue and joint pain fight the idea of standing in the kitchen very long to fix dinner. Yet, fast food it not a very healthy or budget-friendly answer! So, I began looking for quick dinners for two that I [...]
Here sits the computer in front of me as a last resort. Earlier, it was the darkness of the bedroom. My slumbering husband resting beside me in the hours before midnight, my eyes stared up into the darkness. Getting up, and locating my pain medication reserved for the worst of discomforts, the maximum dose is elected. [...]
Someone you know has lupus! A few years ago, the Lupus Foundation of America launched a wonderful awareness campaign using this slogan. The statement was featured on a hauntingly beautiful poster of a young woman’s face, surrounded in a field of blue-green and butterflies. The campaign very successfully raised awareness about lupus and the 1.5 million Americans who suffer [...]
On cloudy and overcast days, my lupus wakes me up differently than on sunny days. On these days, my first awakening awareness is pain in my limbs. Symptoms of lupus arthritis, such as joint pain, stiffness, warmth, joint redness and swelling are experienced by most lupus patients. Symptoms tend to be more intense in the morning, and usually improve [...]
After being in an extended lupus flare, the last thing in the world I wanted was any uninvited guests to show up! One unwelcome guest, Lupus, at my house is enough! But, I recently found out that Bronchitis is not a respecter of persons or etiquette. He moves in, uninvited, anywhere he can get his foot [...]
Today, the FDA approved a new biologic drug, Benlysta, for the treatment of lupus! Benlysta is the first new drug in 52 years to be approved by the FDA for use by lupus patients, and the first drug to be developed specifically to treat this systemic multi-system auto-immune disease. Please visit the Lupus Foundation of America web site [...]
Later this week, on Thursday March 10, 2011, regulators at the the Federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are scheduled to rule on the pending recommended U.S. marketing approval of Benlysta. If approved, this will be the first new drug approved specifically for the treatment of lupus in over 50 years. Initially expected to be approved [...]
The joys of getting sick with lupus, doubly sick! It is enough to have lupus, and to also be in a lupus flare, but getting sick with a contagious disease at the same time just never seems right! But it happens. Today, this girl with lupus is sick, upon sick! What could be sorrier than that? Lupus and [...]
This post is dedicated to Kim, a newly diagnosed lupus patient who asked me this morning where she could find accurate information about lupus. While writing my email reply to her question, I realized the information I was sending her could help any newly diagnosed patient. Special thanks to Kim for helping me remember the “adventure” of being a newly diagnosed lupus patient. I [...]
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