The similarities of symptoms, Lupus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
In a previous article that I penned, giving the symptoms and ailments involved with patients suffering from CFS, I elaborated on the difficulty of diagnosing the ailment due to the underlying similarities between it and many other diseases. I also discoursed on the difficulty medical practitioners have with declaring a sufferer to suffer from the ailment because of those very reasons.
Lupus, an autoimmune disorder which causes the immune system to actually attack the healthy tissue. A case of the good killing the good. The early stage symptoms of lupus are like that of CFS; fatigue, a general feeling of discomfort and illness (malaise), chest pain, joint and muscular pain, sensitivity to light, headaches and visual problems, stomach, heart and lung problems. It is easy to see why the Doctors are reluctant to diagnose CFS as the ailment to which a patient might be suffering.
The prospects for a Lupus suffer is not good as is, but can you imagine if such a person diagnosed as CFS instead of Lupus, the prolonged period of the Lupus being allowed to progress without medication could be disastrous. Lupus treated early with anti inflammatory medication, an antimalarial drug and pain killers can relieve a certain amount of the suffering experienced, however advanced Lupus sufferers need more specialise treatment. They could experience life threatening symptoms such as low red blood cell counts (haemolytic anaemia) that can cause serious heart, lung and kidney involvement, as well as central nervous system problems, these need a specialised treatment prescribed by specialist physicians.
This treatment may involve high doses of cortisone, cortisone steroids and Cytotoxic drugs that block cell development, these medications in themselves can have terrifying side effects. So an advanced stage Lupus sufferer is going to experience more pain and discomfort, and if at the early stage incorrectly diagnosed as a CFS, the advancement to chronic will continue unabated.
The reason for the article is to remonstrate why immediate diagnosis of CFS is dangerous and why caution needed in declaring it as an ailment to which one is suffering. The dangers involved with an incorrect diagnoses could result in an early demise of the sufferer of another disease. CFS is not life threatening, whereas Lupus is. CFS is a debilitating ailment suffered by many that medical practitioners are wary to diagnose; and Lupus is a disease that is life threatening, that Doctors have difficulty diagnosing, again because of the many other ailments that can manifest similar symptoms.
Blood clots in the legs or deep vein thrombosis, red cell destruction, inflammation of the heart, fluid around the lungs with lung tissue damage, strokes and low blood platelets can all be life threatening. The real cause of this disease is unknown and it is incurable. Like CFS it affects women more than men, and the symptoms often can come and go, making diagnoses difficult. So it is easy to see why Doctors are reluctant to diagnose one, an ailment suffered and the other a possible terminal disease.
I am not a medical practitioner and most of the above gained from research undertaken by me due to a family member in-law suffering the disease. It is easy to understand, if in my boots, with a family member suffering Lupus and a friend having had CFS, why I would research both of these ailments. When talking with both, the similarities of the symptoms had me, an unskilled layman, confused at the diagnoses, in fact I found it difficult to understand how a medical practitioner could tell, the symptoms report by both, exactly the same.
Should you be experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned please seek early medical advice, it could save your occupation on the one hand and your life on the other.
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