An immune disease after which life does not return to normal, and while some manage to live with it, even with difficulty, others give up, but can some measures and advice contribute to a better coexistence with SLE?
May is the month of awareness of SLE, which affects women the most, making up 70 to 90 percent of all people affected.
According to the National Institute of Health, in the United States of America, SLE is an autoimmune and chronic disease, whose patients have attacks ranging from mild to serious, and lupus varies from person to person and may affect different areas in the body, such as the skin, joints, heart, lungs, and kidneys.
Symptoms of SLE vary from person to person, in severity and quality (Shutterstock)
The symptoms of SLE vary from person to person, in severity and quality, may come and go peacefully, may come and affect one or several parts of the body, and symptoms include:
- Arthritis, including joint pain and stiffness in the morning.
- Fever.
- Feeling tired often.
- Rash.
- Hair loss.
- Mostly painless sores in both the nose and mouth.
- Stomach pain.
- Discoloration of the fingers and toes in cold and stressful situations.
- Swelling of the glands.
- Swelling of the legs and around the eyes.
- Pain when breathing deeply or when lying down.
- Headache, dizziness, depression or confusion.
Foods to counter SLE
According to the medical site "WebMed", there are basic foods that contribute to relieving symptoms, and the severity of the disease in general, the most important of which are:
Because turmeric is anti-inflammatory, it treats diseases of the skin, digestive system and joints (Getty Images)
- Turmeric: Because it is anti-inflammatory, treats diseases of the skin, digestive system and joints, helps lupus patients lower blood pressure, reduce damage to the kidneys, and protects bones from damage caused by the disease.
- Ginger: Because it contains an anti-inflammatory complex, it reduces the pain and inflammation of osteoporosis.
- Omega-3: Eating healthy fats found in fish, walnuts and flaxseeds, helps fight autoimmune diseases, reduces the activity of lupus and is a useful addition to medications for the disease.
- Green tea: contains antioxidants that protect cells from damage, and reduce disease activity if patients adhere to it for 3 months daily.
- Quercetin: This substance is found in fruits such as grapes, cherries and berries, and gives them their distinctive color, and is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
- Vitamin D: The sun causes troubles for lupus patients, so it is necessary, avoid the sun, check the proportion of vitamin D, try to compensate it with supplements, and eat some foods rich in it, especially milk, and mushrooms.
- Olive oil: Extra virgin in particular, is very important in the diet of SLE patients, as it contains a phytochemical called phenols, which reduces inflammation, and helps regulate the work of the immune system.
- Grapes: Because it contains "resveratrol", an antioxidant, which plays an important role in protecting against kidney failure and heart disease in people with SLE, although it does not protect against other complications.
Virgin olive oil is important in the diet of patients with SLE (Shutterstock)
How to coexist peacefully with SLE?
It is true that it is not possible to predict the date of attacks, but it is possible to learn how to deal with them in a successful way, through a number of health steps, the most important of which is patience for the changes that occur since the beginning of the disease, such as the use of applications to remind important things, instead of the state of fog and forgetfulness, and resort to a warm bath before bed, and stretching exercises upon waking up, to face pain and stiffness, and the practice of yoga may be an effective way to tighten muscles and reduce inflammation, while taking precautions with regard to sunlight, by applying creams Protection, wearing long sleeves, wide sunglasses and possibly a hat, adhering to a lupus-friendly diet, sleeping enough hours at night to maintain the immune system, as well as getting naps early in the afternoon.
Lupus can also be successfully treated in the manner of Egyptian journalist and writer Nahed El-Sayed, who turned her autobiography with lupus in 2013 into a book entitled "La Luba" published earlier this year by the Egyptian General Book Authority.
Nahed said Mr. Al Jazeera Net "Lupus began with intermittent symptoms, such as dizziness, fainting, then paralysis of the foot, then rheumatoid, has taken time until the diagnosis, lupus had affected the performance of some organs my body."
Journalist Nahed Al-Sayed, author of La Luba (Al Jazeera)
The writer added, "I did not give up, I searched and understood that they attack suddenly, and choose certain people, united by common features, the most important of which are transparency, activity, and demand for life, I understood how to be active at certain times, I studied and studied the behavior of wolves as animals, and I discovered that the disease was not called lupus out of thin air, both disease and wolf are united by qualities such as cunning and malice, transcendence, love of life, conflict, and choice, the herd of wolves does not attack randomly, attacks the fearful, does not attack carrion, seasoned animals in hunting and selection, and boast as a herd, they give the right to the little ones So that they eat first, then the adults eat, and the first thing that is eaten in the victim, the liver, the kidneys, the heart, and those were the first things that affected my body when I was injured."
Feed Book Laluba (Island)
"In my book, I imagined myself being shackled by a little lupus that they released to feed on my body, eating what would keep it alive and keep me alive. No matter how much I suffer and suffer, I stay alive, that's how I wake up, and then the attack repeats. I rediscovered myself, I got to know lupus so closely that we became friends, I learned that it is not lupus, it is not a disease, it is life, it showed the favor inside me, I loved it, and I was able to deal with it."