Woman’s Struggle Over Lupus Ends in Triumph
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010, 2:07 am
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
When she was 27, Wendy Rodgers began experiencing a rash of acute health issues: Joint pain, fatigue, hair loss and excessively high blood pressure. A battery of tests failed to pinpoint the cause, and Rodgers wasn’t responding to any of the traditional treatments for the individual ailments.
“One morning, I could not even lift my head off my pillow." she said. "I was scared. I thought I was paralyzed.”
The feeling gradually subsided, and Rodgers headed to the doctor, who initially diagnosed the problem as hypertension after her blood pressure reading came in at 225/125.
But Rodgers didn’t respond to the blood pressure medications. “I was in a lupus flare,” she said, “but we didn’t know it.”
The former schoolteacher, who once aspired to become a medical professional, began to research her symptoms and found an article about lupus and asked her doctor to test her for the disease. He referred her to a rheumatologist, who was able to confirm the diagnosis.
After 10 years of treatment, including chemotherapy, dialysis and, finally, a kidney transplant, “Today is a special day for me,” Rodgers told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an interview the day after Mother’s Day. “I’m managing. My lupus is under control, and it has been one year after my kidney transplant,” which took place during Mother’s Day weekend in 2009.
Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Your immune system basically goes haywire and cannot fight off viruses, bacteria and germs that attack the body. The signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.
Certain ethnic groups, including people of African descent, have a greater risk of developing lupus, which may be related to genes they have in common.
The Lupus Foundation of America has a nationwide network of chapters, branches and support groups that provide information and education, as well as links to direct services, including finding a doctor and news on the latest research.
While a person’s genes may increase the chance that he or she will develop lupus, it takes some kind of environmental trigger to set off the illness or bring on a flare, including excessive sun exposure, exhaustion, an illness, an injury, emotional stress or anything that causes physical stress, including surgery, physical harm, pregnancy or childbirth.
Rodgers was diagnosed in February 2000. By that August, she was on life support, suffering from kidney failure. She now wonders whether a trip she took with friends who wanted to console her after her diagnosis might have played a role in her rapid deteroriation.
“I was never told 'Don’t go out in the sun,' that stress could be a trigger. I was a person that never rested. I was busy, busy,” Rodgers said.
She and her friends went on a vacation where the heat index reached 114 degrees, and she spent hours in the sun. It was shortly after her return that she began to feel worse.
“It wasn’t until I met with a black rheumatologist that I learned” about the effects of stress and sun exposure. “He said three sentences that stopped me cold: I could get kidney failure and I would die; I’d have a massive heart attack and die, and I can’t even remember the third option.”
Her kidney problems continued, and by that August she was in the hospital, where she spent the next six months “fighting for my life. I had four grand mal seizures; I lost all my hair to the chemotherapy.”
She described her treatment as “trial and error,” and when she was discharged from the hospital, she left with 24 different medications.
Rodgers .....
“One morning, I could not even lift my head off my pillow." she said. "I was scared. I thought I was paralyzed.”
The feeling gradually subsided, and Rodgers headed to the doctor, who initially diagnosed the problem as hypertension after her blood pressure reading came in at 225/125.
But Rodgers didn’t respond to the blood pressure medications. “I was in a lupus flare,” she said, “but we didn’t know it.”
The former schoolteacher, who once aspired to become a medical professional, began to research her symptoms and found an article about lupus and asked her doctor to test her for the disease. He referred her to a rheumatologist, who was able to confirm the diagnosis.
After 10 years of treatment, including chemotherapy, dialysis and, finally, a kidney transplant, “Today is a special day for me,” Rodgers told BlackAmericaWeb.com in an interview the day after Mother’s Day. “I’m managing. My lupus is under control, and it has been one year after my kidney transplant,” which took place during Mother’s Day weekend in 2009.
Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Your immune system basically goes haywire and cannot fight off viruses, bacteria and germs that attack the body. The signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.
Certain ethnic groups, including people of African descent, have a greater risk of developing lupus, which may be related to genes they have in common.
The Lupus Foundation of America has a nationwide network of chapters, branches and support groups that provide information and education, as well as links to direct services, including finding a doctor and news on the latest research.
While a person’s genes may increase the chance that he or she will develop lupus, it takes some kind of environmental trigger to set off the illness or bring on a flare, including excessive sun exposure, exhaustion, an illness, an injury, emotional stress or anything that causes physical stress, including surgery, physical harm, pregnancy or childbirth.
Rodgers was diagnosed in February 2000. By that August, she was on life support, suffering from kidney failure. She now wonders whether a trip she took with friends who wanted to console her after her diagnosis might have played a role in her rapid deteroriation.
“I was never told 'Don’t go out in the sun,' that stress could be a trigger. I was a person that never rested. I was busy, busy,” Rodgers said.
She and her friends went on a vacation where the heat index reached 114 degrees, and she spent hours in the sun. It was shortly after her return that she began to feel worse.
“It wasn’t until I met with a black rheumatologist that I learned” about the effects of stress and sun exposure. “He said three sentences that stopped me cold: I could get kidney failure and I would die; I’d have a massive heart attack and die, and I can’t even remember the third option.”
Her kidney problems continued, and by that August she was in the hospital, where she spent the next six months “fighting for my life. I had four grand mal seizures; I lost all my hair to the chemotherapy.”
She described her treatment as “trial and error,” and when she was discharged from the hospital, she left with 24 different medications.
Rodgers .....
Remember to register as an organ donor by visiting Donate Life California.
No comments:
Post a Comment