14 Most Common Symptoms of Lupus

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue. This can in turn lead to a number of serious and painful symptoms that can impact on the quality of life.
Usually, the body will create antibodies in order to combat antigens such as bacteria and viruses. In Lupus however, the immune system is unable to tell the difference between antigens and health tissue, which causes the creation of antibodies that are directed to attack that healthy tissue. In effect, the body becomes allergic to itself.

This can then cause all of the symptoms that you might normally expect to see in an allergic reaction but it can become even more serious if the body starts to attack the vital organs.

Lupus is not contagious and is most common in women aged between 15-45 years old. The causes of lupus are not fully understood but doctors generally agree that it is likely caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Certain conditions seem to make lupus more likely. For example, prolonged exposure to sunlight, prescription medications and infections with the Epstein-Barr virus can all make the condition more likely.

There are numerous different kinds of lupus and learning to identify the symptoms of each can help with a fast and accurate diagnosis, along with rapid, effective treatment.

In this post, we will look at 11 of the most common symptoms of Lupus.

1.  Fatigue

Lupus causes the body to react as though it were reacting to a bacterial or viral infection. This causes the immune system to kick into overdrive as it fights what it deems to be a foreign invasion. This is likely to cause tiredness and lethargy, causing the patient to be less able to engage in their usual activities and potentially also causing muscle aches and weakness.