Selena Gomez Has Arthritis From Lupus: What It Means And How To Manage It

While appearing on The Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Selena Gomez revealed that lupus has also given her arthritis in her finger, causing pain during small tasks like opening a bottle.

Pop icon Selena Gomez, who is set to marry her beau, Benny Blanco, this month (September), has revealed that she has developed arthritis caused by lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. The singer, who has been very open about her health struggles, was previously diagnosed with lupus in 2013, which led her to undergo a kidney transplant.

In her recent appearance on The Good Hangwith Amy Poehler, singer and actor, Selena Gomez revealed that lupus has also given her arthritis in her finger, causing pain during small tasks like opening a bottle.

What Is Lupus?

Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease that causes inflammation throughout your body. This means that your immune system mistakenly attacks your healthy cells and tissues instead of protecting them.

A person living with lupus may experience symptoms throughout their body depending on where your autoimmune system damages tissues, affecting your skin, joints, heart, lungs, kidneys, circulating blood cells, and brain.

Can Lupus Cause Arthritis?

Yes, people with Lupus may experience inflammatory arthritis as part of their lupus. Dr. Theodore Fields was once reported to have said that arthritis is one of the most common symptoms of lupus, with about 90% of patients who have lupus developing arthritis at some point.

Symptoms Of Lupus

The symptoms of lupus may vary from person to person and can range from mild to severe. "You may have just a few symptoms affecting just one area of your body, or you could have many symptoms throughout your body," The National Institute of Health (NIH) explains. "Symptoms may come and go, and you may develop new symptoms over time. Some symptoms happen when the disease causes inflammation in organs, such as the joints, skin, kidneys, lining of the heart and lungs, brain, and blood cells."

According to NIH, Symptoms of lupus can include:

• Arthritis
• Fevers
• Fatigue or feeling tired often
• Butterfly rash across the nose and cheeks
• Round scaly rashes that can appear anywhere on the body
• Sensitivity to the sun may cause a rash
• Hair loss
• Painless sores in the nose and mouth
• Change of colour in the fingers and toes from cold and stress
• Swollen glands
• Swelling in the legs or around the eyes
• Pain when breathing deeply or lying down
• Headaches, dizziness, depression, confusion, or seizures.
• Abdominal pain

Who Is At Risk Of Lupus?

Anyone can get lupus, but study proves that women get the autoimmune disease nine times more often than men. NIH also claims that most often, lupus occurs in people between the ages of 15 and 45 years, but people below and above the given age range can also develop it.

"Lupus is more common in African Americans than in White people and is also more common in people of American Indian and Asian descent. Men, African Americans, Chinese people, and Hispanic people are also more likely to have serious organ system involvement," NIH explains. "If you have a family member with lupus or another autoimmune disease, you may be more likely to develop lupus."

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