Saturday, October 10, 2015

Selena Gomez and Lupus

At first I was not interested by the announcement from Selena Gomez that she has lupus because I've heard too much information from celebrities which I don't really need.  However, before dismissing the subject I decided to read about lupus, in part because this isn't the first time I have encountered it.

Hat tip to Selena Gomez for announcing it as this prompted me to read the WIKI:  Systemic lupus erythematosus

The next-door neighbor in Cincinnati had been afflicted by lupus for years.  It didn't seem a terrible problem for her but that's as much as I knew of it.  I knew it was a serious problem but, in fact, lupus can kill you and it's much more debilitating than I ever knew.

There wasn't a strong indication medical science knows what cures lupus.  They know what it does and they can slow it down but they can't cure it.  Generally, the disease is in the class of afflictions which affect the auto-immune system and thus your body attacks itself.

It's with sympathy I discover this as Selena Gomez seems an exceptionally sweet kid and it's a hell of a thing to discover so young things aren't what they seem.  She was a kid with the stars laid out in front of her and now she's told she can't have them.  Her wealth means nothing in the face of that and I do empathize for her.

Note:  this is not an R.I.P. because survival rate over ten years is about 95% of the unaffected population.  That does not mean it is without consequence, however.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lupus is not only incurable but it is incredibly hard tell if obe actually has lupus. It is done by percentage of symptoms.
Sometimes the patient has to convince the Dr it is not RA or a host of other diseases
Then the protocol is diet and exercise to keep it at bay.
She will have good days and not so good days but it takes a,long time to finish you

Unknown said...

I think they said doctors call it 'the great imitator' or some such because the symptoms could be multiple things and that's why the difficulty in diagnosis. It said there are 'flares' which must be the bad days. Damn shame as there doesn't seem to be much to prevent it when they're not sure how you get it.

Unknown said...

Breast cancer research is another example of that as any time I have looked it has revealed breast cancer getting plenty of research time and research dollars but, to all public appearance, it is ignored. You know already that's rubbish.