2018 Darling Harbour Chinese New Year Dragon Boat Race

The Lupus Troopers are a dragon boat team made up of mainly health professionals from the Sydney Adventist Hospital (SAN).

This year we are supporting and promoting the Lupus Association of NSW

The Lupus Association of NSW Inc.
The mission of the Lupus Association is to work towards a world without lupus and associated connective tissue diseases through support, education and research into a cure.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease.

In a normal, healthy immune system the body recognises and destroys foreign objects like bacteria and viruses. With autoimmune diseases, however, the immune system starts to attack objects that are not foreign. Hence the term “auto” (self) “immune.”

With lupus, the immune system produces an excess of proteins called antibodies that attach themselves to various structures in the body. The accumulation of these antibodies in the tissues can cause inflammation, damage and pain.

What causes lupus

Despite many years of research, the cause of lupus is still not known. Scientists believe there are several things that may trigger the formation of the antibodies, including genetic, hormonal and environmental factors. Some of the possible triggers include:

Hormones (females between the age of 15 and 45 are most commonly affected)
Certain medications
Dietary factors
Viruses and bacteria
Stress
Genetics
Pregnancy
Exposure to UV light

Who is affected by lupus?

Although lupus can affect anybody, 90% of lupus patients are women. Of these, 90% develop the condition during their reproductive years

Lupus is a very variable condition. While it has many characteristic symptoms, most patients will never experience all of them. Similarly, no two patients experience identical symptoms.

The severity of the disease also varies. In some patients symptoms appear suddenly and are relatively severe, while in others the disease remains at a low level for several years before diagnosis. For most patients, however, the frightening descriptions of life-threatening disease in medical textbooks never occur, and the condition remains mild and readily manageable.

Lupus runs an unpredictable course. For some people, symptoms subside after treatment of the initial acute attack. For others, periods of “remission” are punctuated by brief “flare-ups” of disease.

Initial symptoms

Several symptoms may be seen in the initial stages of lupus. These include:

Fatigue, weakness and lethargy
Joint pain or swelling (experienced by about half of patients)
Skin rashes (around one in five patients)
Fever


How does lupus affect the body?

Lupus can affect many parts of the body. In fact, lupus (or SLE) can affect every part of the body from skin, to blood cells to organs. Most patients experience fatigue, tiredness and weakness. Some of the other most common symptoms of lupus are described below.

Skin
Almost any type of skin rash may occur with lupus, affecting around two-thirds of patients. The characteristic lupus “butterfly” rash of the cheeks and nose is seen in about one-third of patients, while one in five patients experience mouth sores. Hives and altered skin colour (a lightening or darkening of the skin in places) can also occur. One-third of patients experience Raynaud’s phenomenon, where their fingers turn white then bluish on exposure to stress, cold or vibration.

Joints
Joint pain (also known as arthralgia) and inflammation (arthritis) are common features of lupus. Nine out of 10 patients experience some form of joint pain, most commonly occurring in the hands, wrists and feet. Joint pain – which is often accompanied by stiffness and/or swelling – is most severe in the morning and eases later in the day.

Hair
During active disease, significant hair loss, or alopecia, can occur. Usually the loss is only temporary and can be treated with a variety of remedies. Certain lupus medications, such as anti-malarial drugs and corticosteroids, may encourage hair growth.

Tendons
When tendons are inflamed, they can tighten, causing fingers to pull into abnormal positions such as “trigger fingers”. This is, however, an unusual problem.

Muscles
Muscle ache, known technically as myalgia, may occur in up to two-thirds of patients. The muscles between the elbow and neck, the knee and hip are most frequently involved. Muscle inflammation or swelling is less common, but requires treatment, as unlike myalgia, it can lead to permanent muscle weakness.

Lungs
A thin lining called the pleura surrounds the lungs. Inflammation of this lining is called pleuritis, a condition that affects around one-half of lupus patients at some stage during their life. This causes chest pain when deep breaths are taken.

Heart
Inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart, the pericardium, is called pericarditis and affects about a quarter of those with lupus. The main symptom of pericarditis is chest pain below the breastbone that is often relieved by bending forward. 1

Kidneys
A condition called lupus nephritis sometimes develops when the delicate filtering mechanisms of the kidney, the nephrons, become inflamed.

Blood
Lupus can affect the cells of the blood system and the components of the system that are involved in blood clotting. The most common complaint is anaemia, or too few red blood cells in the bloodstream. As red blood cells carry oxygen to tissues, patients with anaemia will often feel tired. Drops in the levels of white blood cells (defenders against infection) and platelets (which help the blood to clot) are also seen in some patients.

Immune System
A condition known as lymphadenopathy, or swollen lymph nodes (most people know lymph nodes as “glands”) can sometimes occur.

Brain and Nervous System
Inflammation of the blood vessels of the brain can cause a variety of symptoms, including depression, seizures and visual disturbances.