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How to take care of yourself

For a person affected by lupus is much more difficult to maintain his or her health, than for others. One such person should be aware of what the symptoms are, what causes them to worsen and how can they be treated before a tissue or an internal organ are irreversibly damaged. It should be treated from its very early stages because this will decrease your necessary doses of medicines, which have severe side effects.

To prevent your disease from becoming worse, besides information and signs of an attack (fever, pain, rash, discomfort in the abdomen, dizziness, headache, tiredness) you should embrace the following rules:

• * Manage your stress, because it may cause you a lupus attack. It cannot be totally avoided but, through self control, you may learn how to be less affected by it. Techniques or relaxation like deep breaths, yoga, meditation or anything that has a calming effect on you may be very helpful. Of course stress is constant component of our life, but a person, especially one with lupus, must learn how to deal with it.
• * Quit smoking, because it makes your lupus worse and increases its damaging effects on your cardiovascular system.
• * Take as much rest as you need, because your disease induces you a state of abnormal fatigue and rest doesn't always help with that. Try to sleep a minimum of 8 hours and a maximum of 10. in case you feel the need, take a nap during the day.
• * Be cautious with sunlight, because it may worsen your lupus symptoms. Do not expose yourself without sun protection factor sunscreens of at least 15, a hat long sleeves or long pants. In order to protect yourself, you should be fully dressed. Don't go out in the sun from 10 am to 4 pm. Indoor lights that are based on halogen or are fluorescent also release UV radiations do protect yourself even there if necessary.
• * Physical exercises help very much people with lupus. They decrease the risk of a heart attack; they have an antidepressant effect, induce a state of wellbeing, and even help the recovery from a lupus attack. Try to limit open air activities and avoid sunlight as much as possible, especially in case of a crisis.
• * Be extremely cautious concerning immunization, especially live vaccines, like that for the flu. Discuss this problem with your doctor.
• * Stay away from alcohol as much as possible, because it damages organs that are already endangered by lupus such as the heart, liver, muscles and kidneys. Some of the medicines for lupus have interactions with alcohol that may result in serious complications.
• * A healthy alimentation will give you a priceless help. There are no aliments that could worsen in particular the symptoms of lupus but avoid anything that seems to do so. In case you have hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders or kidney damage, a restrictive diet may be required.

The women affected by lupus should ask their health care professional about the risks and the required steps for a pregnancy without problems, before they make the decision of becoming pregnant. Some lupus medications cannot be taken in these circumstances.