Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) can go into a lupus remission on medications or treatment
Lupus patient:
“My doctor told me last week that she has seen lupus go away in some patients. She said she thinks I am one of them. Is this true? Can lupus “go away”?
Dr. T:
“True SLE does not go away. However, it is possible to go into “remission on therapy” Also… another scenario… it is not uncommon for a systemic autoimmune disease to appear like it is one type, but evolve over time showing that all along it was something else (like in chapter 1 of my book).”
Lupus can go into remission, and you can help! If you follow everything in my “Lupus Secrets” you will have a much better chance of going into remission. If you are doing everything and still flaring or are not in remission, ask your rheumatologist to adjust your medicines until either remission or low disease activity is reached.
How to use the Lupus Secrets? Sit down… take a yellow highlighter… highlight EVERYTHING you are not doing and learn to do every single thing on the list as a part of your regular lifestyle. This needs to become your “new normal.”
For example:
– Take all your medicines religiously without missing doses. Especially hydroxychloroquine. It increases remission rates a lot and is the only drug proven to prolong life spans in lupus patients.
– Take a vitamin D supplement to keep your level at 40 or higher, and NEVER miss doses nor run out.
– Use sunscreen religiously every day even if you don’t go outside (unless you have LED bulbs). Consider sunscreen as one of your lupus medicines. Put it on your medicine list!
Good luck! I wish you all the best in life and health!
For more in-depth information on remission and lupus:
If i got a $1 for each person with lupus i met in remission ..lol..i would be very Rich.
However , no such patients with Sjogrens. Usually it never imoroves from initial onset level. I know patients with mild sicca from start and it stayed mild.
But if it was severe at start, it gets not mcuh Better.
Less than 10% remission for sure.
What is your opinion about this Dr T?
Supposedly these 2 diseases are very linked but i dont see it considering how resistant Sjogrens is.
Many CIDP, GBS, POTS autonomic neuropathy, bedbound CFS cases ended up having Sjogrens. But rheumaatologist only look at ANA and i am really frustrared that studies are very clear on this but physicisns are late 17 years on average on studies
Petra: I wholeheartedly agree. There are so many immunologic similarities between SLE and Sjogren’s that sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate immunologically (e.g. on the SLE-key test, and the AVISE Lupus Test). In a recent personal email to me from Dr. Alan Baer, chief to the Johns Hopkins Sjogren’s Center, he stated it elegantly “sometimes the lines between lupus and Sjogren’s are blurred.”
Why can SLE go into clinical remission so often, yet Sjogren’s does not (at least the glandular portion of the disease)?
It is amazing how much more we know today compared to when I first got into rheumatology… yet, we have so much more to learn (as we search for cures rather than just treatments). … Donald Thomas, MD
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