MEDI-POST: Let’s Talk Lupus!

Good Evening!

This post is going up a tad too late.

If you are abreast with matters international, you know that May is Lupus Awareness Month with its culmination being  on May 10th  which was World Lupus Day in celebration of the more than 5m people living with it worldwide. I was meant to post this before then but life happened so here it goes.

I first came to really know about lupus some years back when a famous local celebrity was diagnosed with it making it become a major news locally especially since it was a ‘new’ disease to most of us.

But what exactly is lupus?

Lupus is an auto-immune disease that attacks your bodies own tissues and organs. The immune system is designed to attack foreign substances in the body. If you have lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system and it attacks healthy cells and tissues. This can damage many parts of the body.

While genetics play an important role in causing lupus, there are many factors that trigger it. It can be difficult to diagnose because its signs and symptoms often mimic those of other ailments. The most distinctive sign of lupus — a facial rash that resembles the wings of a butterfly unfolding across both cheeks — occurs in many but not all cases of lupus.

There are many kinds of lupus but the most common type is systemic lupus erythematosus which affects many parts of the body.

Anyone can get lupus, but it most often affects women. Lupus is also more common in women of African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent than in Caucasian women.

In this Lupus Awareness month, challenge yourself to know more about it, educate your family and friends about it and POP (Put on Purple). Wear purple on Friday, May 15 to show your support for those battling lupus and tell people why.

I am wearing purple hair this month to show my support, tag me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and show me how you are standing together with lupus sufferers with your purple outfit.

Here are some of my purple hair looks:

There you go.

Do you know anyone suffering from lupus or are you one of the victims?

Feel free to leave a comment below or on my other social media pages and let’s educate each other abut this incurable disease.

Cheers!

Winnie!