My alternate theory on Lupus.Been batting this around the empty cavern on top of my n

[Goober]

My alternate theory on Lupus.
Been batting this around the empty cavern on top of my neck for some time now.

I have Lupus. Have had it for quite some time.

Ex Military so had numerous vaccinations.

Lived in FRY (Former Republic of Yugoslavia)for 3 1/2 years and exposed to a number of viruses as the persons on the camp traveled all over the world on their time off and always brought some gem back with them.
So in the FRY I and others would get sick on a regular basis.

I rarely get a cold or the flu. If I do it has generally short term effects. 1 day or less and poof, gone.
Yes I do get it for longer periods but rare, quite rare.

I wonder if the Lupus & my exposure is assisting my body in attacking the new viruses I encounter?

The only medications I have been on for Lupus is a cream for rashes from Lupus.

There are others here that know people with Lupus I wonder if they are having what I call a side effect?

Lupus - What is Lupus?

What is Lupus?

Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. This results in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs.

Under normal function, the immune system makes proteins called antibodies in order to protect and fight against antigens such as viruses and bacteria. Lupus makes the immune system unable to differentiate between antigens and healthy tissue. This leads the immune system to direct antibodies against the healthy tissue - not just antigens - causing swelling, pain, and tissue damage.
(* An antigen is a substance capable of inducing a specific immune response.



Treatments
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lupus/DS00115/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

http://cure4lupus.org/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=164&chapter=1

 

[JLM]

My alternate theory on Lupus.
Been batting this around the empty cavern on top of my neck for some time now.

I have Lupus. Have had it for quite some time.

Ex Military so had numerous vaccinations.

Lived in FRY (Former Republic of Yugoslavia)for 3 1/2 years and exposed to a number of viruses as the persons on the camp traveled all over the world on their time off and always brought some gem back with them.
So in the FRY I and others would get sick on a regular basis.

I rarely get a cold or the flu. If I do it has generally short term effects. 1 day or less and poof, gone.
Yes I do get it for longer periods but rare, quite rare.

I wonder if the Lupus & my exposure is assisting my body in attacking the new viruses I encounter?

The only medications I have been on for Lupus is a cream for rashes from Lupus.

There are others here that know people with Lupus I wonder if they are having what I call a side effect?

Lupus - What is Lupus?

What is Lupus?

Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks normal, healthy tissue. This results in symptoms such as inflammation, swelling, and damage to joints, skin, kidneys, blood, the heart, and lungs.

Under normal function, the immune system makes proteins called antibodies in order to protect and fight against antigens such as viruses and bacteria. Lupus makes the immune system unable to differentiate between antigens and healthy tissue. This leads the immune system to direct antibodies against the healthy tissue - not just antigens - causing swelling, pain, and tissue damage.
(* An antigen is a substance capable of inducing a specific immune response.

Sorry to hear about that Goober, all I know about Lupus is that it is a miserable disorder. A woman I worked with years ago had it, but it didn't seem to slow her down too much. Are they making headway with treatment/cures etc.?

 

[Goober]

Sorry to hear about that Goober, all I know about Lupus is that it is a miserable disorder. A woman I worked with years ago had it, but it didn't seem to slow her down too much. Are they making headway with treatment/cures etc.?

No cures. Treatments are generally steroids and if that does not slow the immune system down they use drugs used for suppressing the immune system.
What happen is the immune system can become over active. As it cannot note the difference between bugs shall we say and healthy organisms, they can go rampant on all.

So they have to suppress the immune system.

Me I count my blessing.
Lupus: Treatments and drugs - MayoClinic.com

Lupus Treatments

 

[spaminator]

 

[Sal]

Sorry to hear that Goob!

 

[Goober]

Sorry to hear that Goob!

Thanks but I plan to be around for a tad.
Others have worse cases of Lupus.
But I was wondering do they catch the cold/flu as easy as others?
As the immune system does not recognize friend or foe it was batting around my top cavern for a number of years.
I cannot find any studies on this particular topic.

 

[SLM]

Sorry to hear that Goober, really am. I don't know much about it but I did have a co-worker who had it a number of years ago and she found that pain management therapy did the trick for her. As for the cold/flu thing, as far as I can recall she never took a sick day.

 

[Sal]

Thanks but I plan to be around for a tad.
Others have worse cases of Lupus.
But I was wondering do they catch the cold/flu as easy as others?
As the immune system does not recognize friend or foe it was batting around my top cavern for a number of years.
I cannot find any studies on this particular topic.

Good for you Goob. I do not know much about this disease. I had a former co-worker that had Lupus. She was in her 20's. She was frequently ill but she was young and did not take care of herself very well.

Perhaps the place to ask such questions to get qualified answers would be an MS forum.

What are your thoughts on the cold or flu question? Are you thinking because the immune system is always active that it would fight off virus...in theory it should. It would seem from recent research that most disease is related to the functioning of the immune system including some heart attacks which can be viral and cancer cells which the immune system either destroys or fails to destroy.

 

[Goober]

Good for you Goob. I do not know much about this disease. I had a former co-worker that had Lupus. She was in her 20's. She was frequently ill but she was young and did not take care of herself very well.

Perhaps the place to ask such questions to get qualified answers would be an MS forum.

What are your thoughts on the cold or flu question? Are you thinking because the immune system is always active that it would fight off virus...in theory it should. It would seem from recent research that most disease is related to the functioning of the immune system including some heart attacks which can be viral and cancer cells which the immune system either destroys or fails to destroy.

Yes- as the immune system is more active it may attack the virus.
If that is fact them using a virus to use when the system is in overdrive may be more suitable than chemo and such.

 

[Sal]

Yes- as the immune system is more active it may attack the virus.
If that is fact them using a virus to use when the system is in overdrive may be more suitable than chemo and such.

so you are thinking, introduce a virus to give the immune system an active target?

 

[karrie]

I have fibromyalgia, not the same as lupus but one of the more similar auto-immune diseases.

Personally, it's hard to say if it effects my resistance to viruses. I am with kids, toddlers etc., so much that I end up catching everything it seems. The downfalls of being everyone's snuggly aunty. For some people though, just being so health conscious because of an illness, is enough to make sure they take the extra steps to avoid nasty bugs. Washing hands more frequently, sending workers home if they're sick rather than letting them stay and infect a whole staff, etc.

 

[Goober]

so you are thinking, introduce a virus to give the immune system an active target?

Recall the Avian Flu- In Ontario a young hockey player died from his immune system over reacting. Destroyed his heart muscle.
Lupus attacks the organs, usually goes after the larger organ,:lol: no not that one, the skin. It can also attack in the worst cases, low number, the brain.
Reason why immune suppressants are at times used.
But these can cause damage to organs as well.

 

[karrie]

Yes- as the immune system is more active it may attack the virus.
If that is fact them using a virus to use when the system is in overdrive may be more suitable than chemo and such.

That can be hit and miss. Sometimes having a virus can cause 'remission' in an auto-immune disease (I've laughed to hubby in the past as I hung my head over the toilet bowl that I felt better than I had in months), but, there are other times where a simple innocuous bug can cause a massive flare up. Our immune systems are kind of *******s, let's be honest.

 

[JLM]

Recall the Avian Flu- In Ontario a young hockey player died from his immune system over reacting. Destroyed his heart muscle.
Lupus attacks the organs, usually goes after the larger organ,:lol: no not that one, the skin. It can also attack in the worst cases, low number, the brain.
Reason why immune suppressants are at times used.
But these can cause damage to organs as well.

That a boy, Goober! -