The Treatment of Modern Western - Biblio.nhat-nam.ru

75SYSTEMIC LUPUSERYTHMATOSUSAlso known as disseminated lupus erythmatosus, this is yetanother autoimmune disease causing inflammation of theconnective tissue. According to Western medicine, its etiologyis unknown. Ninety percent of SLE patients are female. Itpredominantly affects young women, but it may also occurin children. Lupus may begin abruptly with fever or maydevelop insidiously over months and years. Although symptomsmay manifest in any organ system, 90% of patientscomplain of articular symptoms ranging from intermittentarthralgias to acute polyarthritis. A past history of “growingpains” during childhood is not uncommon.This condition is characterized by butterfly-shaped malar erythema.Other skin conditions may include discoid lesions anderythematous, firm, maculopapular lesions on the face,exposed areas of the neck, upper chest, and elbows. Oral ulcersare common, and generalized alopecia is frequent duringactive phases of this disease. Forty percent of lupus patients arealso photosensitive. Generalized adenopathy is common, especiallyin children, young adults, and African Americans, andsplenomegaly occurs in 10% of patients. CNS involvementcan cause headache, personality changes, epilepsy, psychoses,and organic brain syndrome. Lupus patients frequently experiencespontaneous abortions (probably due to autoimmuneovaritis), and postpartum flares are common.In terms of the Western diagnosis of this condition, mostpatients have antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in their serum. Infact, 98% of SLE patients test positive for ANAs. When onetests positive for ANAs, then typically one is further tested foranti-DNA antibodies. High titers of anti-DNA antibodies arealmost specific for lupus, while the ESR is elevated almost uniformlyduring active disease. Mild lupus is also diagnosed bythe presence of fever, arthritis, pleurisy, pericarditis, headaches,and rashes, while severe lupus consists of potentially lifethreateninghemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenic purpura,renal damage, and acute vasculitis of the gastro-intestinal tractand/or the extremities. In mild cases, arthralgias are usuallycontrolled with NSAIDs. If both skin and joint manifestationsare prominent, antimalarials are often used. Severe diseaserequires immediate corticosteroid therapy.According to the American Rheumatoid Association, theremust be four of the following eight symptoms present forlupus to be diagnosed: ANA antibodies in the blood, lowwhite blood cell or platelet count or hemolytic anemia, jointpain in a number of joints, butterfly rash on the cheeks,abnormal cells in the urine, sensitivity to light, sores in themouth, and seizures or psychosis. Some drugs give a falsepositive test, including hydralazine, procainamide, and betablockers. Sometimes these drugs produce a lupus-like conditionthat goes away when the drug is stopped. In addition,birth control pills may cause flare-ups of lupus.The Western prognosis of this disease varies widely dependingon the organs involved and the intensity of the inflammatoryreaction. The course of SLE is commonly chronicand relapsing, often with periods of remission lasting foryears. Provided the initial acute phase is controlled, longtermprognosis is good with a better than 95% 10 year survivalin most Western countries.CHINESE DISEASE CATEGORIZATION: The skinlesions of lupus are variously called hong mu die chuang, redbutterfly lesions, zhu yu dan, Evodia redness, ri shai chuang,sunshine lesions, yin yang du, yin yang toxins, xue fengchuang, blood wind lesions, mian fa du, face emission toxins,etc. Other symptoms of lupus fall under the categories ofshui zhong, water swelling, xu sun, vacuity detriment, chuanxi, panting breath, xue zheng, bleeding conditions, guan ge,block and repulsion, bi zheng, impediment condition, etc.DISEASE CAUSES: Former heaven natural endowmentinsufficiency, external contraction of the six environmentalevils, both unregulated emotions and unregulated eating anddrinking, over-taxation, and excessive sex