By SHELBA NIVENS / Community Columnist

The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) estimates that 1.5 million Americans have a form of lupus.

According to the LFA, “There is an urgent need to increase public awareness of lupus and its consequence among those at greatest risk for the disease.”

Having lived with the condition for several decades, I feel a need to help spread this awareness. Since a problem connected to lupus is keeping me close to home for awhile, I thought this might be a good time to do it.

Ninety percent of individuals diagnosed with lupus are women. Most are between ages 15 and 44. Many suffer at least four years and see three or more doctors before obtaining a correct diagnosis, according to LFA’s website.

When first becoming ill in 1968, I was a young mother with three young children. But it was not until 1990 that I was correctly diagnosed and began treatment. (Several other people in the Chelsea area were diagnosed about the same time.)

I learned that lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease. Normally the immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from foreign invaders like viruses and germs. In lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign invaders and the body’s healthy tissues, so it attacks and destroys healthy tissue, too. This causes inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body, inside and out.

Rheumatologists are lupus specialists, but internist Dr. Ginger Alred, of Alabaster, diagnosed my condition, then called in a rheumatologist to confirm her diagnosis and assist with treatment. Through the years, other specialists have treated various conditions caused by the lupus.

Great advances have been made in diagnosis and treatment of lupus since I first became ill with it. Medical experts are still not certain what causes it, but they do know that lupus often runs in families. They have found that other infections, with fatigue and stress can cause flares.

Years ago, most patients with lupus had a poor prognosis. But today, with certain lifestyle changes, most patients can live a normal life span when they work closely with doctors on their care.

For more information on lupus “Google” Lupus Foundation of America or call the Arthritis Foundation, Alabama Chapter at 979-5700.

Shelba Nivens can be reached by email at Shelbasn@juno.com.