When kidneys fail, as they sometimes do in severe lupus (as well as in a number of other conditions), the only “cure” is a transplanted organ. While awaiting that solution, the only recourse is usually dialysis, a tedious, time-consuming, costly, and uncomfortable process at best. An alternative would be welcome—ideally, one that would reverse at least some of the renal damage.

The corticosteroids, discussed earlier, might be referred to as immunosuppressants, since they act in part by quelling immune-system activity. But the kinds of drugs generally meant by this term are the agents used to prevent the rejection phenomenon in organ transplants; that is, they suppress the immune system that normally—and desirably—acts to reject foreign agents invading the body. These drugs also interfere with the proliferation of quickly multiplying cells and so are used to treat some malignant growths. The rationale for their use in lupus is their ability to reduce the ranks of B cells that are producing antibodies.

Another eponymic condition, affecting an estimated 10 to 20 percent of lupus patients, was named for Emanuel Libman and Benjamin Sacks, the two American physicians who published a description of it in 1923. In Libman-Sacks endocarditis (“inflammation inside the heart”),

Arthritis and rashes are among the most common first signals of lupus in adults, and that’s true in children, as well. Most have a rash of some sort. Many complain of joint discomfort, and the joints may also be stiff and swollen.

I have lupus, and so does my sister, although hers is very mild.

We think our mother may have had it, too. We remember

Now, let’s take a look at the impact of lupus on pregnancy—not only the APS-associated perils but others as well.

I have APS, and I've had blood clots that have traveled to my lungs. I'm now taking a regular blood thinner. I don't know yet if I want to try to get pregnant, since I know that a lot of women who have APS experience complications.

As everyone who has access to any medium of communication is aware, coronary heart disease (CHD)—damage to the heart caused by blockage of one or more of the several arteries delivering fresh blood, pumped by the heart, to the heart itself—is one of the most widespread ills on the planet. And study after study has found that lupus patients are among those in the very greatest peril.