SLE is an autoimmune disease, not an infectious disease When it comes to SLE, many people think it is an infectious disease and stay away from lupus patients. In fact, lupus is an autoimmune disease, not an infectious disease, and not directly related to wolves. The word lupus comes from Latin, and in the mid-19th century, a doctor named Carson Ruff officially used the medical term “lupus erythematosus”. However, by lupus he meant only discoid lupus erythematosus, which is mainly skin damage. Patients with this disease have repeated skin lesions such as discoid erythema and butterfly erythema on the face or other parts of the body, and some have skin atrophy, scarring, pigmentation changes and even facial deformities, making their appearance damaged as if they were bitten by wolves fighting each other. Other patients with lupus have a rapid but insidious onset, and the early symptoms are atypical and cunning like wolves, just like the patient mentioned in the previous case, whose first manifestation is only low fever and low white blood cells. This is the reason for the name of lupus erythematosus. Systemic lupus erythematosus means that in addition to skin damage, there is also damage to various systems and organs of the body, such as kidney, heart, liver, brain and lung. ”Lupus is not an infectious disease, nor is it an incurable disease. The fear of lupus stems from people’s lack of understanding of the disease. From the past to the present, more and more people are suffering from the disease partly because of the improvement of diagnostic means and methods and the increase of people’s awareness of the disease. However, there are still many ordinary people who do not know about the disease, so they seek treatment indiscriminately after getting sick, or even check the relevant knowledge on the Internet and believe in the rumors of some charlatans, and do not carry out formal treatment. In fact, lupus is not an incurable disease, and as long as standard treatment is carried out in regular hospitals, it can be clinically relieved and the daily life of patients is not affected at all. On the contrary, listening to the slanderous words of charlatans will only aggravate the disease. Do not say no to glucocorticosteroids Active and standardized treatment is needed after a clear diagnosis of lupus, especially for patients with active disease at the time of initial diagnosis. Among them, glucocorticosteroids play an important role in the treatment of lupus. However, the side effects of glucocorticosteroids, such as weight gain, skin thinning, increased blood sugar and blood pressure, and osteoporosis, make people resistant to them. In fact, the use of glucocorticosteroids during the active phase of the disease can accelerate remission; short-term use of topical glucocorticosteroids can rapidly reduce facial rashes; and, for patients planning to become pregnant, studies have confirmed that pregnancy can be safely carried out with a small daily dose of glucocorticosteroids. There is no conclusive evidence that the use of other medications such as immunosuppressants is harmful to pregnancy or that they are safe. Furthermore, patients with lupus do not need to use glucocorticoids for life, and when glucocorticoids are reduced to low doses the side effects are minimal. In some patients, they can be discontinued completely. Therefore, patients with lupus do not need to say no to glucocorticosteroids. Because certain foods or drugs can trigger allergies and rashes in patients and may be involved in triggering the onset of lupus, lupus patients are often very cautious about dietary restrictions. Many patients are afraid to use foods that may cause allergies, such as beans, mushrooms, celery, leeks, beef and mutton, seafood, etc., and their regular diet can be described as “light meals”, which is not conducive to balanced nutrition. In fact, except for foods that can clearly cause allergies, it is not recommended for lupus patients to avoid eating them. Especially for patients with lupus nephritis who have proteinuria and use glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants, excessive dietary restrictions will only lead to malnutrition and reduce the body’s ability to resist disease. Food rich in protein and vitamins should be consumed, and patients using glucocorticoids should pay attention to calcium supplementation. However, if other diseases are present at the same time, selective food should be eaten according to the relevant conditions. For example, patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia should reduce the intake of salt and fat; patients with diabetes or those taking glucocorticoids at the same time should restrict staple foods according to the blood sugar situation. Gout patients should not consume large amounts of seafood and beer. Many patients believe that the onset of lupus is due to low immunity, so they consume a lot of health care products, including Ganoderma lucidum, royal jelly, pollen, Cordyceps sinensis, placenta and so on. Strictly speaking, lupus patients are immune dysfunctional, and some of them are also hyper-immune. If you take immunity-enhancing health care products blindly, it will aggravate the disease. Especially for female patients, they should be more cautious when taking estrogen-containing foods or drugs such as bee products and birth control pills, because excessive estrogen may trigger the onset or aggravation of the disease. Lupus patients also have the right to love beauty Lupus patients are mostly women of childbearing age. Patients in this age group use more or less cosmetics. After the disease, many patients are ambivalent because certain chemical ingredients in some cosmetics may trigger skin allergies, especially in cutaneous lupus which may lead to aggravation of the rash. As a result, patients no longer use any cosmetics after the disease. This view is also incomplete. Many lupus patients have photosensitivity, and such patients should pay particular attention to avoiding sun exposure, so it is necessary to use sunscreen when going out. It is okay to use cosmetics with less irritating and plant-based ingredients as appropriate. In conclusion, lupus is not contagious and is not an incurable disease. If we face the disease squarely and treat it regularly, we will not be afraid of “wolf” and dance with it to create a better era for lupus patients.