Lupus was the main thing that killed my mom. Ange's mom, too. It really sucks! At least the name is kind of cool.

Here's a quick intro from a lupus survivor:

Lupus is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system thinks that every thing in your body is something to be destroyed. People with lupus have an overactive immune system. Think of it sort of like rheumatoid arthritis, but instead of the immune system attacking the joints and connective tissue surrounding the joints, causing inflammation, lupus attacks every system of the body. These attacks happen without warning. One day, you can feel as normal as one does with lupus, and the next day, you can literally be fighting for you life when the immune system decides that your kidneys –- as an example — are bad. The most common organ lupus attacks is the skin, as it is the biggest organ, however, every single bodily function can be attacked. Ninety percent of lupus patients are female and lupus does not discriminate against age or ethnic background. No two lupus patients are the same. While most experience the same core symptoms, the secondary conditions are as varied as the individuals who have lupus. Because of this, and the fact it mimics a myriad of other diseases, lupus is called “the disease of a thousand faces,” and “the great mimicker.”

http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/05/world-lupus-day/

Don't worry, I don't mind the lupus jokes from House.

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Ayo fuck lupus.

Auto-immune in general is shitty.

One of my favorite articles on the subject, and the fact that it can apply to so many other not-immediately evident illnesses: http://...butyoudontlooksick.com/...christine-miserandino/

Man fuck lupus :(. I miss my mom so bad.

:(


fuck lupus

Lupus is terrible. :( My cousin has it.

Fuck lupus.


Thanks for spreading info on this disease!

One of my favorite writers, Flannery O'Connor, died of Lupus. I visited her house a few months ago and saw the very crutches she used while fighting the disease.

When I was really sick a few years back, I was tested for lupus ten or so different times, thankfully all negative, but I did a lot of reading up on it at the time. I can't imaging the strength it takes to live with such a disease for your whole life.

I really liked the spoon link but man, just the url (butyoudontlooksick.com) makes me feel kind of ill because that sentence and mentality is so difficult to deal with (even though I know obviously the site is using it facetiously).

Sometimes I think non-outwardly-visible illnesses are the cruelest, because so many people doubt you.

At least if you lose a leg and you're in a wheelchair, nobody thinks you're faking it.

I think lupus, at least, doesn't have too much of a reputation as a disease that people fake. I never really thought about it until now, but House, M.D. was probably a huge step forward for lupus awareness. It was a punchline on the show, but millions of people heard about it for the first time that way. And I'm sure some percentage of them (hundreds of thousands? a few million?) probably spent half a minute Wikipedia'ing it, right?

Not that there's much to be aware of with lupus other than "it sucks."

I remember knowing and telling my friends about lupus in second grade and asking my friends what disease their moms had because I thought all moms were ill. In the eighth grade i wanted to write a paper on it for school and my library had NO books on lupus and i couldnt believe that something that was so huge in my life was nonexistant in the library. My mom has a lot of siblings and they would treat her as if she was faking her pain or ability to do the things they could.

The first lupus walk I did this guy had a team tshirt that said "lupus is an asshole". So true.

Aw man, her siblings treated her like she was making it up? That's fucked up.

I had no idea what lupus was until my aunt died of it. I was a teenager so I didn't really ask about it, I just knew she was sick for a long time. It wasn't until I was older (and the internet was around) that I really got more of an idea what she was going through.

I agree about House though, I love that show and I definitely think more people are aware of lupus as a result of it.

My Dad has a "touch" of Lupus (whatever that means Dad) and he looks like an OK guy just doing his normal thing and you would honestly never know. It effects his joints and attacks his digestive system. He is always in some kind of pain. I think a lot of what keeps him going is the fact that he keeps himself going. He never stops doing and moving and eating healthy (except for the sleeve of cookies he has every night lol).

He got it around my age so I am super sensitive to how my body is feeling. I am going to keep testing myself for it just in case!