Facts about lupus:

• No new treatment has been approved by the FDA to treat Lupus in over 50 years.

• An estimated 1.5 million Americans have a form of lupus.
  Lupus results from an immune system that is out of balance, causing it to become destructive to any organ or tissue in the body.

• The health effects of lupus include heart attacks, strokes, seizures, kidney failure, and miscarriages.

• Symptoms, such as fatigue, skin rashes, joint pain and hair loss mimic other conditions, appear differently in different people, and can increase or decrease in severity from day to day.

• It can take years to diagnose lupus. More than half of the people with lupus visited three or more doctors and suffered four or more years before being diagnosed.

• If left untreated, the health consequences of lupus can be devastating and potentially fatal.

• An estimated 80 percent of Americans know little or nothing about lupus.
  

Posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under Health News, Lupus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.