I've been seeing a girl who has Lupus. She has special diet needs and gets serious cramps or pains in her body quite often. She also has scars on her forehead, behind her ear and on her scalp where she has lost some of her hair (patches). I've done some reading on it, but could use someone's personal experience with this illness. She's a wonderful lady, and I want to know if there is anything I can do to ease her burden. She's 30 and was diagnosed at 23. At one point, the doctors gave her 5 to 7 years to live, but that was more than 7 years ago. Thanks! My cousin had Lupus and was diagnosed several years ago. She takes good care of herself, manages the symptoms as they arise, is very acitve and vibrant.
She has good days and bad days. Her good days are incredible, her bad days can range from horrific to just bad.
What can you do? Be there. For the good and bad days. Since Lupus has no "set' pattern it will be a roller coaster ride. But your lady sounds wonderful and I can pretty much think that each moment with her will be worth the ride. Take the good with the bad knowing that all relationships have issues to deal with. At least you both know what those issues are. Hi Jules
She has to educate herself on detoxifying the body of excess waste and toxins in the blood. One has to open to the idea of course, so it's not easy saying here is the answer when someone has had a disease for so long.
Here are some ideas to heal the issue. Learning about detoxifying the blood by doing colon and liver cleanses will change one's health forever.
Cause
Food allergies (there is a 100 percent correlation between lupus and food allergies), rheumatoid arthritis, other connective tissue diseases, parasites, candidiasis, bowel problems, and digestive enzyme deficiencies can create symptoms that mimic or exacerbate SLE. Migraines, epilepsy, and psychoses must also be ruled out before a proper course of treatment can be decided upon.
Both forms of lupus primarily strike young women (90% of cases) and young children.
The drugs hydralazine, procainamide, and beta blockers can cause false-positive readings of SLE, and can also produce a lupus-like condition that disappears when the drugs are no longer taken. Birth control pills and environmental stresses can also exacerbate lupus symptoms.
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Natural Cures
Diet: Eat an organic, whole foods diet. Also avoid overeating and limit your intake of dairy, beef products, and polyunsaturated oils. Also screen for food allergies and avoid all foods to which you are allergic or sensitive. Increase your intake of vegetables, especially green, yellow, and orange, and consume non-farm-raised fish several times a week.
Herbs: Supplementation with Swedish bitters with each meal can increase hydrochloric acid production. Also drink an infusion of nettle twice a day. Other useful herbs include echinacea, goldenseal, licorice, pau d`arco, and red clover
Hydrotherapy: Hydrotherapy is the application of water, ice, steam and hot and cold temperatures to maintain and restore health. Treatments include full body immersion, steam baths, saunas, sitz baths, colonic irrigation and the application of hot and/or cold compresses. Hydrotherapy is effective for treating a wide range of conditions and can easily be used in the home as part of a self-care program. Many Naturopathic Physicians, Physical Therapists and Day Spas use Hydrotherapy as part of treatment.
Hyperthermia: Hyperthermia involves artificially creating fever in the body for the purpose of boosting immune function. Hyperthermia can be a highly effective method of eliminating toxins and heavy metals, as well as infectious bacteria and viruses that cannot survive in elevated body temperatures.
*Purified water is essential for any hydrotherapy or hyperthermia treatment. Remedies for Treating Chlorinated Bath Water offers clear instructions and recommendations.
Juice Therapy: Drink the juice of carrot, celery, flaxseed oil, black currant oil, and garlic.
Nutritional Supplementation: Hydrochloric acid (HCL) deficiency is common in people with lupus, therefore HCL supplements with each meal is advised. Other useful nutrients include vitamin A with beta carotene, vitamin C and bioflavonoids, vitamin B complex, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc, essential fatty acids, proteolytic enzymes taken away from meals, digestive enzymes taken with meals, and the amino acids L-cysteine, L-methionine, and L-cystine.
Topical Treatment: PABA cream applied topically can help ease symptoms.
Best of health to you I have lupus and am 55 years old.
You can listen to her and respect her needs. She may be sick but she is not a child. Don't treat her like one. Lupus takes away enough from our lives without being treated like we don't know how to take care of ourselves. Learn all you can about lupus www.lupus.org is a good starting place.
Don't make lupus the center of your relationship. Three's a crowd. Unless she has lupus kidney disease that has her on dialysis waiting for a kidney transplant, she can probably expect to live a normal life span if she follows her treatment regimen, sees her rheumatologist regularly and practices healthy habits. Be there. Listen to when she needs to rant.. Then treat her just like any other woman.
She won't want to dwell on her illness. Neither should you. She's proved her drs wrong already. That's an awesome thing. |
