When you are diagnosed with Lupus it can be a scary and freighting event and you may not be able to take in all the information that the doctor is telling you. We are going to look at what lupus is, what are some signs you may have Lupus, and if you are going to lose your hair because you have Lupus. There are many questions people have for further information you should ask your health care provider.

Lupus or in scientific terminology Systemic lupus erythematosus is basically an autoimmune disease. There are several parts of your body that lupus effects. Lupus can affect your joints and most of the major organs such as, kidneys, heart, lungs, skin, and even your brain. When you have an autoimmune disease like lupus what happens is the immune system basically gets confused, instead of attacking infections it attacks the persons internal organs and tissue. There are people with lupus that only experience mild symptoms and there are few complaints. Others with lupus have severe symptoms that cause a lot of problems. The symptoms are usually inflammation that goes into remission and flares up from time to time. Lupus is genetically passed however, the onset of the disease is triggered from various reasons any where from stress to sunlight. With the estimated amount of over one million Americans have lupus. The majority of the people that have lupus are women in their twenties and thirties. Lupus is more commonly found in women of African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American descent.

Unfortunately, the symptoms of lupus are common with other disease therefore, harder to diagnose. To determine if you have Lupus your doctor may have to perform several tests before actually being able to tell if you have the disease. There are common symptoms like skin rash, painful or swollen joints, low grade fever, and extreme fatigue. However, these are also symptoms of other diseases thus making it harder to diagnose. Even the test doctors currently have for lupus are not always reliable and none of them are definitive. It may take several months or even years before you are diagnosed with the disease. Once you have been diagnosed with lupus your health care provider can give you more information on how to help fight this disease.

The next part we are going to look at is hair loss while you have lupus. Having lupus does not guarantee the loss of hair. However, almost fifty-four percent of people with lupus suffer some hair lose during the course of the disease. The loss of hair is usually only temporary. When most people lose their hair while they have lupus it is in big chunks which is a scary event. The regrowth of hair may take some time. Losing ones hair is never an easy event to handle, just be prepared that it may happen. You may want to talk to your health care provider to see if there are ways to help stimulate growth of your hair faster.