Its symptoms are pretty generic–which we’ll get into–but first queue the expert.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Risha Kopel from Arbor Green Medicine Clinic in Dallas. I’m here to answer your Google health questions.”
Dr. Kopel said lupus isn’t very common but its symptoms are: go ahead and type in fatigue, fever, joint pain and headaches and you’ll notice lupus–especially if you’re a Googlechondriac.
Click PLAY to watch “Lupus: Your Googlechondriac Questions Answered”.
“Sometimes people tend to pick the scariest thing on the list on that but the important thing is to really talk to your doctor about your symptoms,” Dr. Kopel said. “If there is something concerning you because it may not be lupus, probably will not be lupus.”
Dr. Kopel said lupus can be hard to diagnose and could be caused by your genetics and environment. There are still many unknowns but here’s what doctors do know.
“Lupus is an autoimmune disorder which means your immune system attacks your body so it can attack all over your body, your heart, the lining of your heart, joints,” Dr. Kopel said. “Any organ can be affected by lupus.”
Lupus impacts more women than men–in fact men comprise only about 10% of patients.
Dr. Kopel said that in the off chance that you have lupus–there is no cure but there are treatments that can help keep it in check.
“It can be hard to treat but lupus is one of those conditions that has relapses,” Dr. Kopel said. “It’s a chronic condition but has intermittent flairs so when people are flaring there are medications such as steroids or immune suppressant medications that we use to try to treat the symptoms and they really do help.”
