Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can target and damage any part of the human body. The disease triggers an imbalance in the immune system. When someone’s immune system is healthy, it produces antibodies that attack invasive cells that make a person sick. Having an autoimmune disease means that a person’s immune system can’t tell between good and bad cells. Antibodies will attack both healthy and sick cells, weakening the immune system even more.
The cause of Lupus is unknown, but according to the Lupus Foundation of America’s website, doctors say that it could be related to a person’s genes. While this theory hasn’t been proven, Lupus does tend to appear within families.
Lupus can live in someone’s body for years, however without a specific environmental trigger the disease may never surface. These triggers include: *ultraviolet rays from the sun of fluorescent bulbs *penicillin or other antibiotic drugs *a cold or viral illness *exhaustion *anything that causes stress to the body like surgery, physical harm, pregnancy or giving birth
it is possible to live a normal life with Lupus, however today there is still no cure.