Raynaud's Disease and Lupus

Our target here, is not to give complete information about lupus,
The target is, to give so much information about lupus that a patient of Raynaud's can get an idea about lupus.

A General "About":
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus. People with lupus produce abnormal antibodies in their blood that target tissues within their own body rather than foreign infectious agents. Sometimes lupus can affect many different body systems, including the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys, joints, and/or nervous system.
        One out of three patients of lupus generates Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Signs and Symptoms:
Common initial and chronic complaints include fever, malaise, joint pains, myalgias (muscle pain), fatigue, and temporary loss of cognitive abilities. Because they are so often seen with other diseases, these signs and symptoms are not part of the diagnostic criteria for SLE. When occurring in conjunction with other signs and symptoms, however they are considered suggestive.

SLE is one of several diseases known as "the great imitators", because it often mimics or is mistaken for other illnesses. SLE is a classical item in differential diagnosis, because SLE symptoms vary widely and come and go unpredictably. Diagnosis can thus be elusive, with some people suffering unexplained symptoms of untreated SLE for years.

For more and detailed symptoms of lupus, please  visit following website.
The symptoms are described there in very normal english.
http://www.londonlupuscentre.co.uk/lupus/symptoms/


There are four different types of lupus:
systemic lupus erythematosus,
discoid lupus erythematosus,
drug-induced lupus erythematosus,
and neonatal lupus.

Regards,
Kiran :)

Raynaud's Phenomenon and Smoking

Smoking causes blood vessels to narrow (Constrict in nerd-speak). This constriction in blood vessels causes skin temperature to drop, smoking worsens frequency and intensity of attacks. Medications to treat Raynaud's may not be as effective in smokers. Smoking can lead us to angina. [Angina is severe chest pain. It happens because of ischemia. (ischemia is lack of blood, thus a lack of oxygen supply.)]

On a website, I found some information related to Raynaud's Disease and smoking, in a highly encrypted way. They used so technical words, most of which belong to nerd-speak, it made think may be by mistake, I got access to the confidential documents of some Top Secret Research Facility.
:D

I am copy-pasting the data here, as it was on the website. Take a look for yourself. (And go nuts.)

The acute effects of smoking a single cigarette on peripheral blood flow were investigated by laser-Doppler flowmetry in nine patients with Raynaud's phenomenon and 12 normal controls.In regular smokers, a marked fall in finger blood flow was demonstrated, but this was not present in non- or irregular smokers. These results suggest that regular smoking sensitizes the peripheral vasculature to the vasoconstricting effects of the next cigarette, and that at least part of this sensitization is mediated by the inhibition of endothelial prostacyclin synthesis.

According to this website, "they" conducted similar smoking test on some normal people,
and on some patients of Raynaud's. They got following results:
In human language these results are:

• The blood flow in fingers of regular smokers was decreased.
• But the similar decrease of blood flow was not found in the fingers of irregular or non-smokers.
• Regular smoking makes the arrangement of blood vessels in extremeties (hands, toes, and perepheral organs) sensitive to the next effect of the cigarette. This effect of cigrette means the same about blood vessels getting consticted, as I have already mentioned above.
• In simple words, first cigarrete doesnt create much trouble, but this first cigarrete makes our blood-circulation system sensitive for the effect of next cigarrete. And this second cigarrete decreases the blood flow in fingers.
• So, the bottom line is, we must never smoke!

Warm Regards,
Kiran :)

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