Lupus is considered to be an autoimmune disease because in this disease, the defensive system of the body against foreign germs attacks the tissues of the own body. In some cases suffering from Lupus, the antibodies that are produced in the body turn out to be causing damage to the body instead of protecting it. This disease causes rashes, mouth sores, arthritis and damage to the kidney and many other problems to the women at the child bearing age.

Signs and Symptoms of Lupus

There are several symptoms of Lupus ranging from mild to severe. The common symptoms found are pain and swelling in the joints, prominent fatigue, fever and rashes on the skin. There can be the appearance of a butterfly rash on the cheeks and nose. This type of rash is a common symptom of Lupus which is also found in various other organs of the body such as scalp, face, neck, ears, hands, chest, shoulders and back.

The other symptoms of Lupus found are pain in the chest, increase in the sensitivity due to sunlight, anemia, hair loss, decrease production of the red blood cells in comparison to the white blood cells and paleness. Due to poor circulation of oxygen in the body, there is cyanosis of the toes and fingers. The patients suffering from Lupus have a problem of headaches, less vision, dizziness, decrease in the concentration and may also suffer from psychological condition like depression. The disease can progress unpredictably and the symptoms may change with time.

When the lymphatic system of the body gets damage by the Lupus disease, the symptoms that are found include lymph node pain and swelling in the entire body. The main systems affected by the Lupus are the musculoskeletal system, lymphatic system or the skin. The symptoms like muscular pain, swelling and stiffening of the joints and fatigue are often found when the musculoskeletal system is affected by Lupus.

When the central nervous system is affected due to Lupus, the symptoms found are headaches, memory loss for some duration, dizziness, depression and unpredictable changes in the behavior. Some of these symptoms are not actually caused due to Lupus but, instead they are due to the emotional stress or lupus medication for long time.

Treatment of Lupus

Lupus is considered to affect various parts of the body like kidneys, heart, blood and lungs. Some red rashes found on the face can be treated with a good quality sunscreen. Sometimes as the treatment of Lupus, the flu shots are also referred. The reason of doing this is to prevent the body from other type of infections that may develop in the body due to Lupus. Some people believe to use dental products and hair dyes for its treatment.

The best advice is to take a healthy diet containing all the nutrients as it is helpful for preventing and treating the Lupus disease. Taking proper medicines and doing exercises on regular basis can also be of good use to treat this disease. The beneficial exercises are the breathing exercises that help to calm down your body thereby, playing a role in treating the Lupus.

According to recent Study, it has been observed that the patients who take Benlysta drug have got less Lupus outbursts. Among a brand new class of observational medicines which focuses on the disease procedure necessitated in Lupus crush normal treatment in a huge clinical test, researchers have observed that Benlysta has great cure for reducing lupus severity.

If the research findings are proved, then Benlysta would be 1st new cure for the lupus disease in 5 decades. Around one and a half million Americans are suffering from lupus which is a complex malady affecting the immunity system of an individual. It damages the tissues of the individual, causing mayhem in skin, joints and many important organs. Benlysta has been found to reduce the unnatural immunity signals there by making it calm and healthy.

The new research was done with eight hundred and sixty five patients on normal therapy which included steroids for testing lupus. Among the tested people, 1/3 of the people were given high dosage of Benlysta drug and 1/3 of the people were given low dosage of Benlysta and another 1/3 of the people were given a placebo.

Results of the Research

The chief of rheumatology, Sandra V. Navarra, MD at the Santo Tomas University in Manila located in Philippines stated the results of the research in the seventy third Annual Scientific meet held at the American College of Rheumatology.

After 1 year, 58 percent of the patients who were given high dosage of Benlysta has a notable betterment in the severity of Lupus symptoms when compared with the 43 percent of the people who were on placebo. Patients who took Benlysta also suffered few disease outbursts, and some of the cases had severe outbursts as well as long duration between the outbursts. They also stated less fatigue and an improvement in the quality of their life. Earlier, the findings from the research proved that the drug was more effective at lowering the hair loss, pain and the skin rash when compared to the placebo injected people.

The doctors state that, many patients who take Benlysta were able to decrease the dosage of their steroids. One of the most crucial goals for the treatment was to free them from the usage of the steroids, since they can cause many side effects which are troublesome, like gain in weight, acne, bloating, very high blood pressure and some others, as per Joan T. Merill, MD the director of America’s Lupus Foundation.

Negative Effects of Benlysta

The generic negative effects that were observed include muscle pain, influenza, headache, infection is the upper regions of respiratory tract, infections in the urinary tracts, and were corresponding to the 3 groups of treatment. The severe infections were observed in among 6 percent of the patients in all the 3 groups.

The Benlysta drug manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences Inc., funded the research. There is another large research conducted by using Benlysta drugs against the standard treatment and the results are planned to be published during the next month. If the Benlysta drug is found to be effective in that research also, the manufacturers are planning to apply for the approval from FDA for Benlysta.