What Do You Know About Lupus Disease?

Last weekend, I went to a locally owned furniture company here in Idaho Falls with my Mom.  She has been talking about getting a Tempur-Pedic mattress for YEARS now.  She talked about it so often that I literally just assumed it was a far-off dream of hers.  But, finally, her dream came true.  However, through her mattress experience, I learned a little something on my own.  As it turned out, the salesman (I'll call him 'Santa' from now on for privacy/hilarity purposes...and because, well, he looked like Santa Claus) was extremely talkative and eager to help us.  He went on and on about how the mattress was beneficial in so many ways.  Specifically, he talked about arthritis and how it would really help my Mom with that.  Then, as he continued to extensively elaborate about this dream-mattress, he got a little teary-eyed.  My first thought was, "Hm..nice sale tactic," but I immediately felt bad for thinking that because he talked about how the mattress really helped his daughter, who has an immunodeficiency disease called lupus.

I had heard of lupus before, but I really didn't know anything about it.  After coming home that night, I decided to do a little research on my own about it (because I'm a weird nerd like that).  Anyways, I found out that lupus mostly affects women and that, because it's an autoimmune disease, it weakens the immune system and makes our antibodies allow anything and everything to attack the body. It mostly affects women between the ages of 15-35 and is often hard to diagnose just because it can look like a lot of other diseases.  It can be caused by a combination of genetic and/or environmental factors, but it is not a contagious disease.

Lupus can be mild or severe, and there are a few different types.  There is discoid lupus, which can cause sensitive and painful lesions and rashes on facial skin and skin on the upper torso.  Another kind of lupus is called systemic lupus erythematosus (holy mouthful!).  This form can affect all organs and/or organ systems in the body, which makes it a more severe type of lupus.  There is also drug-induced lupus, which is just like it sounds: drug induced/caused by a medication-related reaction.  The good thing about this type of lupus is that it usually goes away after the medication stops. 

Santa's daughter had the most severe type of lupus...the one that's really hard to say (systemic lupus erythematosus).  I think the biggest eye-opener that I discovered about it was that there is no cure for it.  Nope.  None.  And that's because the gene that causes it has not been pin-pointed yet. But it is treatable with immunosuppressants.  Recently, I found out that the environmentally-friendly online shopping network that I use makes some supplements that can help with it as well.  A fellow employee of mine has a Mom who has lupus, and she has informed me that the multi-vitamins, along with the joint supplement, have really helped to improve her way of life.

After learning about this, I decided that I really needed to do what I could to offer some help to Santa and his daughter.  I get tired of hearing about problems that I can't do anything about.  So, I went back to the furniture store today and, just in case he was too busy helping other customers, I wrote Santa a nice letter and included my business card along with a sample of the network's joint supplement and one of their yummy chocolate/caramel exercise bars (which taste pretty much like you're eating a candy bar!).  I really felt like I was leaving milk and cookies for Santa! Hahaha...luckily, he was not busy with customers and was really excited to see me.  He even remembered my name!  So, after saying that it was really sweet of me to introduce my company to him, we chit-chatted a bit and decided to set up a time for me to introduce the company's other products.

Today, I discovered what I really like about the online shopping network: I just enjoy helping other people!  And I really love it when they are excited to receive my help as well!  Santa was a great motivator for me.  He sparked my interest in lupus to the point where I wanted to learn all about it.  And, after learning about something like that, I felt even better knowing that I could actually DO something to help him.  I will definitely be looking forward to helping more people like him and/or his daughter in the future. 

Lupus research references that I used in this post:

http://www.aarda.org/patient_information.php?gclid=CP30j8P89rACFUpeTAodt0NU-A

http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_learnunderstanding.aspx?articleid=2232&zoneid=523

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus

For those of you following, or for those of you who are new to my blog, if you ever become interested in learning more about the online shopping concept that I use and how their products can help you and/or your family, please email me at queenogreenhealth@gmail.com