Natural alternatives include eating anti-inflammatory foods, taking fish oil and vitamin D from food sources and supplements (7).
Common complications include:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Reactive arthritis
- Celiac disease
- Pernicious anemia
- Vitiligo
- Scleroderma
- Psoriasis
- Inflammatory bowel diseases
- Hashimoto’s disease
- Addison’s disease
- Graves’ disease
- Sjögren’s syndrome
- Type 1 diabetes
- Other immune disorders
What Is Like To Live With Lupus?
“It’s a disability that you cannot describe because the whole thing about lupus is it’s so unpredictable,” explained Mallory Dixon, 29, to Medical Daily (8).
The worst part of the disease is that it varies from person to person, meaning that your doctor must observe your condition extensively to learn how to adapt treatment to your specific needs.
Many lupus sufferers go through multiple failed diagnoses before discovering their condition as the symptoms often mimic those of other diseases. In Dixon’s case, her doctors identified rheumatoid arthritis when she was 17 years old but could not understand or manage her other symptoms for years.
Eventually,her doctor began to believe her condition to be more psychological than physical. “One of my doctors told my parent I might need to see a therapist,” she said.
Six years after her arthritis diagnosis , she was finally diagnosed with lupus. Despite finally getting the diagnosis right, Dixon ended up being resuscitated after finding herself medically dead only two years later.
Her hospital stay ended up lasting 86 days as she suffered from a coma, lost the ability to breathe on her own received chemotherapy, and was treated with dialysis. Her lupus had began to affect her kidneys, causing permanent damage.