We often find people with lupus lose hope when a medical treatment they have undergone doesn’t bring the recovery they expected. Indeed, it is not easy for people who suffer from Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) to deal with pain, physical discomfort, complications and other problems over a long period of time.

There are even assumptions that people with lupus will have to suffer from the illness for their whole life, because, up to now, there is no medical cure. Is this true?

To deal with chronic illness, especially one in which the causes and medications are not yet known, the best way is not to make ourselves suffer.

Thus, lupus should not be considered as an obstacle for us to have and to enjoy a good quality of life. Therefore, suffering from lupus is not the end of everything. Instead, we can still have a meaningful life despite it.

The effort to make the life of people with lupus of better quality and more meaningful will very much depend on how we see the problems we encounter.

This article tries to look into the problems frequently faced by people with lupus and tries to compare, as well as to appeal to people with lupus to look at the problem from a different perspective.

“Themed” session: Kidneys in Lupus
27 March 2010
Angelo King AVR, UST Hospital

This special meeting focused on one of the major organs affected by lupus, the kidney.

Before the session started, patients filled-up a “How are you?” survey to evaluate current patient-reported outcomes, their quality of life, and the disease activity. Following this, was a “dipstick your urine” session where each patient learned how to properly collect urine and test this for protein, blood, leucocytes and other elements seen in a routine urinalysis.
 
The program kicked-off with a lecture on “Kidneys in lupus” given by Dr. Joenavin D. Ngo, Rheumatology research fellow at the UST Hospital. The scientific presentation tackled basic information on kidneys, its purpose and role in our body, what happens to the kidneys in lupus, the tests to detect and monitor kidney problems, and how we can take care of our kidneys.

The lecture was followed by a moving lupus story shared by 23 year-old male patient  Mark Anthony Osorio from Negros Occidental. As a patient with lupus nephritis, he narrated his struggles and triumphs with kidney failure, dialysis, and finally transplant. Mark’s successful struggle gave hope and light to other patients with kidney involvement.

The session ended with a lively ‘question and answer’ discussion with nephrologist Dr. Porschia Comes-Natividad, covering several issues from diet to vitamins to dialysis.

Dr. Sandra Navarra concluded the program with a presentation on the possible role of environment in lupus – reiterating the importance of our individual responsibility in caring for our environment, conserving water and proper recycling in order to protect the future of our children. This was timely as March 27 commemorated “Earth Hour”.