什么是狼疮和RA？

Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are bothautoimmune diseases。事实上,两种疾病有时困惑because they share many symptoms.

当您的免疫系统攻击体内细胞，触发炎症并破坏健康组织时，就会发生自身免疫性疾病。科学家不确定所有自身免疫性疾病的触发因素，但他们可以在家庭中运行。

Women are at greater risk of having an autoimmune disease than men. African-American, Native-American, and Hispanic women are at even greater risk, according to the National Institutes of Health.

RA和狼疮之间最明显的相似性是关节痛。关节肿胀是另一种常见症状，尽管炎症水平可能有所不同。两种疾病都会导致您的关节变得炎热和嫩，但这在RA中更为明显。

红斑狼疮和类风湿性关节炎影响你的energy levels as well. If you have either disease, you might feel constant fatigue or weakness. Having a periodic fever is another symptom of both lupus and RA, but it’s more common with lupus.

Both diseases are more common in women than in men.

之间有很多差异狼疮andRA。For instance, lupus might affect your joints, but it’s more likely to affect your internal organs and your skin than RA. Lupus can also cause life-threatening complications. These may include kidney failure, clotting problems, or seizures, which are not symptoms of RA.

另一方面，RA主要攻击您的关节。它会影响手指，手腕，膝盖和脚踝。RA也可能导致关节变形，而狼疮通常不会。

在某些情况下，RA也可能与肺部和心脏周围的炎症以及皮肤结节疼痛有关。但是，对于当前的疗法，现在比过去更不常见。

Pain associated with RA is usually worse in the morning and tends to get better as the day progresses. But the joint pain caused by lupus is constant throughout the day and can migrate.

Because these two diseases share some common characteristics, people can be misdiagnosed with RA when they actually have lupus, or vice versa, at the early stages of either disease.

Once RA is advanced, doctors can tell because the disease can cause bone erosion and deformity if appropriate therapy is not provided. Lupus, however, rarely causes bone erosions.

In the early stages of RA or lupus, doctors can usually make a diagnosis by looking at your symptoms. For example, lupus often affects the kidney, causes anemia, or leads to weight changes.

RA也可能引起贫血，但可能会更频繁地导致肺部问题。医生可能会命令血板检查您的器官的健康状况，并查看其他可能导致症状的东西。

Both lupus and rheumatoid arthritis can be difficult to diagnose. This is especially true early on in both diseases when there are few symptoms.

要被诊断出患有全身性狼疮，您至少必须见面 four of the following diagnostic criteria ：

  • 急性皮肤狼疮，其中包括malar rash，出现在脸颊和鼻子上的皮疹（也称为蝴蝶皮疹）
  • chronic cutaneous lupus, which includes盘状狼疮，在皮肤上抬起红色斑块
  • 非脱发或头发在多个身体部位稀疏和破裂
  • 联合疾病，其中包括arthritis这不会导致骨骼侵蚀
  • serositis symptoms, including inflammation of the心脏衬里orlungs
  • 神经症状，包括发作orpsychosis
  • kidney symptoms, including protein or cellular casts in the urine, or a biopsy proving lupus kidney disease
  • 溶血性贫血
  • low white blood cell count
  • low platelet count
  • antibodies to double-stranded DNA
  • antibodies to Sm nuclear antigen
  • 抗磷脂抗体，包括对心磷脂的抗体
  • presence of抗核抗体, or ANA
  • 较低的补体，一种免疫蛋白
  • a positive test for antibodies against red blood cells

To be diagnosed with RA, you must get at least six points on the RA分类量表。The scale is:

  • 影响至少一个或多个关节的症状（最多五个点）
  • testing positive for rheumatoid factor or anticitrullinated protein antibody in your blood (up to three points)
  • positiveC反应蛋白（CRP）orerythrocyte sedimentationtests (one point)
  • symptoms lasting longer than six weeks (one point)

Comorbidity refers to having more than one disease at the same time. This is also known as overlap disease. People with lupus and people with RA can have symptoms of other conditions. It’s also possible for people to have symptoms of RA and lupus.

There’s no limit to how many chronic conditions you can have, and there is no time limit for when you can develop another chronic condition.

Diseases that often overlap with lupus include:

Diseases that often overlap with RA include:

  • Sjögren syndrome
  • autoimmune thyroid

There is no cure for lupus, but treatment can help you manage your symptoms. Many people with lupus take corticosteroids and other prescription drugs to treat joint inflammation and pain.

Others might need medication to treat skin rashes, heart disease, or kidney problems. Sometimes a combination of several drugs works best.

People with rheumatoid arthritis can get cortisone shots to control the inflammation. Sometimes, patients might need a knee or hip replacement later in life because the joint becomes too deformed. Many medications are available to control symptoms and prevent joint damage.

People with both lupus and RA will need to make a long-term plan with their doctors. This plan will include ways to help control the inflammation and pain. It will also help you minimize the complications of lupus and RA.

Long-term complications of lupus include heart and kidney damage. Lupus patients often suffer from abnormalities of the blood, including anemia and inflammation of the blood vessels. Without treatment, all of these can damage tissue.

未经治疗的RA并发症包括永久关节畸形，贫血和肺损伤。治疗可以预防长期问题。