autumneave

This is part of a new campaign to raise awareness about Lupus. As you may know this is a personal fight for me, I wasn't even alive the last time there was a new drug for Lupus. There are only 3 drugs approved by the FDA for Lupus, Aspirin, which caused ulcers and sometimes is not enough pain relief for the level of pain the Lupus sufferers have. Plaquenil, which can be of great benefit but has to be monitored for side effects, especially those affecting vision. And Prednisone, which can reduce inflammation of the painful joints but can also eat away at our bones and lower our immunity to nearly everything. I also take Methotrexate, which is a chemotherapy drug, it suppresses my immune system so that it doesn't overreact and attack my systems and organs, it also make me nauseous, leaves me open to infection and makes it hard for my body to heal even a small scratch.

More Americans have Lupus, than AIDS, sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis & cystic fibrosis COMBINED! Over 20,000 American women will die this year due to Lupus.

Especially encourage women ages 15 to 45 to review the symptoms of Lupus at lupus.org [lupus.org] so that they can be aware and be diagnosed and treated earlier instead of Lupus progressing to organ damage before anyone knows what it is.