Hey there, everybody. Welcome back to Food for
Thought. Thoughts if it were you, I'm Neogentrix.
And this is the podcast where we chew down on
big ideas that shape our lives. Today, we're
looking into a deep mirror at a shape -shifting
factor, a medical disease or medical mystery
known as the disease of a thousand faces. We
know it as lupus. Imagine your body as a fortress.
and your immune system is the highly trained
army sworn to protect it from invaders like bacteria
and viruses. It's a marvel of biological engineering,
able to tell the difference between self and
non -self with incredible precision. Now, imagine
that army, through some profound case of mistaken
identity, declares war on the very fortress it's
supposed to protect. That internal civil war
is the reality of an autoimmune disease. And
that's what leads us to the disease of lupus.
It's the battle that is waged on a thousand different
fronts. Today, in today's Food for Thought episode,
lupus is what we'll be discussing. It isn't exactly
just one disease, if I'm being perfectly fair.
It's a shape -shifting type of disease, an illness
that conforms to no single pattern, manifesting
in a vast and unpredictable range of symptoms
that make it incredibly difficult to diagnose.
treat and or live with. This isn't just a clinical
descriptor either. It speaks to a deeper psychological
burden. Living with lupus means confronting an
illness that makes it hard to trust your own
body, challenging your sense of self. It's a
chronic long -term condition that is not contagious.
It's an invisible illness that requires a deep
well of resilience from those who live with it
every single day. Today, we're going to demystify
this complex condition. We'll break it down into
what it really is, what autoimmunity really is,
unmask the thousand faces of lupus by looking
at its symptoms, exploring the shocking disparities
in who it affects, and finally look at the hope
on the horizon for treatment and management.
Y 'all ready? Well then, let's break that down,
shall we? right everybody and we're back all
right so let's check out lupus this will be your
guide to the disease of a thousand faces let's
get started shall we first off the science of
what is autoimmunity first off to really understand
lupus we first have to get a handle on this concept
of autoimmune oh no autoimmunity mouthful it's
a first off it's a healthy immune a healthy immune
system is your personal defense force, right?
So it produces proteins called antibodies that
target germs, right? So the whole system is built
on its ability to distinguish your own healthy
tissues from foreign invaders, right? This is
how your healthy immune system functions like
it's supposed to. It basically helps you define
how your system is supposed to work in ways that
it's naturally designed to, right? Second is
the autoimmune mistake. In an autoimmune disease,
the recognition system completely breaks down,
right? So the immune system mistakenly identifies
your own healthy cells as threats and then launches
attacks on them and starts targeting and destroying
the normal body cells of your, you know, skin,
body, organs, what have you. This leads to the
next phase, autoantibodies and inflammation.
Instead of helpful antibodies, it creates autoantibodies.
This attack triggers chronic inflammation, redness,
swelling, heat, pain, which causes the tissue
damage that defines the condition. Not every
time you have inflammation does this mean that
you have lupus, but it does say that there is
a possibility that it's there. Sometimes it's
just caused from self -inflicted injury from...
falling or hitting something too hard. And this
is a normal reaction that your body has because
it's supposed to be trying to defend itself and
figure out what's going on so it can correct
it. But in this case, it doesn't actually do
this, which then leads to SLE. I'm sorry, SLE,
not SLI. That's a completely different disease.
One we'll cover in the future. The most common
form of SLI or systematic lupus erythematosus.
is that it's systematic, right? Because it's
a self -attacking protein that can happen in
virtually any part of the body. It can happen
in the joints, the skin, the kidneys, the heart,
the brain, the lungs. And in which case, I guess
you can kind of figure, depending on where it
is, it could be immediately deadly or it could
be something that spirals over time. The course
of the disease is famously unpredictable. It's
marked by episodes of illness called flares,
when symptoms get worse, followed by a period
of weakness or remission when they start to improve.
This constant uncertainty is one of the hardest
parts of living with this disease, and it's one
of the things that makes it hard for a lot of
people to deal with it. Understandably so, right?
Next, let's talk about those symptoms. Because,
honestly, I feel like we need to cover them in
more detail, right? So, when we talk about the
thousand faces of lupus, we're talking about
its huge variety of symptoms. Someone with lupus
might hear, but you don't look sick to me. Well,
they're actually experiencing debilitating fatigue
or life -threatening organ damage. So, let's
break down some of the most common signs. First
things first, we'll talk about the universal
burdens. The single most common symptom is a
pervasiveness, a debilitating fatigue affecting
up to 90 % of the patients. An unexplained persistent
low -grade fever where your head, you're constantly
burning up, but not like to a high degree, but
at low bursts. Next would be painful swollen
joints, often in the hands, wrists, and knees,
which are typically worse in the morning. Not
so much throughout the day. It does lighten up
somewhat from what I've been told. I have a friend
who has lupus, so in their situation, it would
lighten up in the afternoons and then again pick
up in the evenings. But it was mostly more unbearable
in the mornings. Next would be visual signs,
such as skin and hair. The most distinctive sign
is the butterfly rash or malar rash. I'm pretty
sure it's pronounced malar, but I'm going to
say malar because it looks about right to me.
If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me in the
comment section. But anyway, spreading across
the cheeks and the nose in almost half the patients.
You can tell from the way it's shaped what it
is because it'll kind of look like a butterfly.
Next is photosensitivity, where exposure to UV
light can not only just trigger a rash, but it
can also trigger what's known as a full body
flare. And in some people's case, which is unfortunate,
hair loss and small painful sores inside the
mouth or nose are also common. Some of these
may not be immediately noticeable, but they do
tend to flare up and become more obvious over
time, so keep that in mind. If you know someone
who may or may not have it, keep an eye on them.
You want to be encouraging to these people. You
don't want to bring them down. They're already
going through the thick of it. They don't need
anyone else's help, okay? Then there's the invisible
dangers. Oh, the invisible dangers. This is the
stuff that happens to internal organs. First
off, kidney involvement, or lupus nephritis as
it's known. This is one of the most serious complications.
The immune system attacks the kidneys, filtering
units which can lead to kidney failure, which
is bad in most people's cases. Obviously, if
you can't filter the poisons and toxins out of
your body, that tends to back up in your system,
and you can end up dying from poisoning that
way. Next would be the brain and nervous system.
You kind of have to include them both together
as they're completely attached to each other,
and if you separate them, you could almost paralyze
someone, if not kill them. Keep that in mind.
This is not a guide on how to wipe someone out.
I'm talking about how this disease slowly but
surely wipes certain people off the map, or basically
turns either some people into vegetables or kills
them. Which is unfortunate, but I mean, this
is what happens, right? Anyway, this can... When
it attacks the brain and nervous system, this
can cause everything from headaches to dizziness
to memory problems and even a frustrated cognitive
impairment known as brain fog where everything's
just blank for like a set period and you can't
come up with nothing or say or do anything. It's
not great. Trust me. Next would be the heart
and lungs. It can cause sharp chest pains from
inflammation of the surrounding membranes or
It can also increase the long -term risk of cardiovascular
disease, which is not great. There's also the
issue of blood disorders. It can cause anemia,
increase the risk of dangerous blood clots. So,
before we go any further, just a little food
for thought. You know, how is it that one disease
can be so widespread and so devastating? Think
about this for a minute. If it's not cancer,
it's lupus. Cancer destroys the cells, right?
And then spreads and spreads and spreads and
slowly but surely the cells are dying as they're
being converted or infected with cancer versus
the other way around with lupus where the system
is literally attacking itself and making itself
shut down because its inability to function as
a result of all the damaged cells. While they
both kind of play out almost exactly the same
to a certain degree, one's more detrimental than
the other. And while the death count on one is
probably nowhere near the other, it's just something
to consider, you know? All right, everybody.
So let's go ahead and move on to the third part
of this, right? So here's the next question.
Who gets lupus? The stark disparities that exist
within it, right? This isn't a disease that affects
everyone equally, okay? And the data reveals
some truly striking disparities, like for one,
gender, right? An estimated 9 out of 10 people
diagnosed with lupus are women. Most often...
stricken during their childbearing years from
the age of 15 to 44. That's typically when they'll
see it. Or how about the race and ethnicity data
that we have? Lupus is two to three times more
prevalent among women of color, including those
of African -American descent, Hispanic, Latinas,
Asian -Americans, and Native American descent
than most white people, or white women, rather.
Or how about the severity of it? Okay, let's
look at that. Women from these minority groups
tend to develop lupus at a younger age, experience
more severe complications, and even have higher
mortality rates. Because of this, lupus is one
of the leading causes of death among young black
and Hispanic women, especially if untreated.
A lot of people don't even recognize it. They
just kind of see it as like, oh, they're just
sick. We need to take care of them. We need to
do this. We need to do X, Y, and Z. But in reality,
that's not really the case, you know? It's one
of those things where it's just kind of like,
how do I describe it? It's one of those things
where you have to kind of be attentive, notice
when something is out of turn, right? So how
do I put it? What causes it? Well, the honest
answer is that nobody exactly knows the cause.
As far as most of the data in the notes show
from my research. It's still unknown. And I've
looked through quite a few. There's a lot of
theories out there, but there's no concrete answer.
Researchers still believe it follows a perfect
storm model requiring a combination of set things
like genetic predisposition. It can run in a
family or it could be hormones. The nine to one
female ratio strongly points to hormones, especially
estrogen levels that can trigger it. Or it could
be environmental triggers, things like sunlight,
viral infections, or even. Severe stress can
be the final push that activates this disease
and it just runs rampant in your body. No one
really knows. So given all this complexity, how
do you even diagnose a disease that looks like
so many other things all at once, right? It's
a process that more than likely requires a lot
more detective work than a simple test. You know,
it's easy to give someone different tests for
different things, but those tests are going to
show. If it's lupus, it's going to show for just
about everything. Now, I know you guys, for some
of y 'all that are listening or watching, a lot
of y 'all have seen the show House. And in that
show, a lot of the times when they're trying
to diagnose what the issue is with a lot of the
patients in the series, one of the first things
they automatically go to is lupus. Because if
it looks like it can be a multiple task of literally
almost everything, more than likely it's going
to be lupus versus cancer. Cancer is very specific
with what it does and how it affects people.
versus lupus, which is the complete opposite.
In this case, lupus looks like everything. Cancer
is going to look like one thing. It's either
going to be a lump, and it's either going to
force something to shut down or not function
properly, versus this, where everything is not
functioning properly all at once. You know, like,
how do I put it? Lupus symptoms overlap with
many other conditions, which is why, on average,
it usually takes nearly six years for a person
to even get an accurate diagnosis for the first
time. for the time they first notice any symptoms.
There's no single test for lupus. What was it
called? A rheumatologist, that's the word I'm
looking for, has to piece together clues from
the patient's symptoms, a physical exam, if you
will, and a series of lab tests. Then they have
to perform something called the ANA test, or
rather, the anti -nuclear antibodies exam. It's
the primary method of screening. used in blood
to be able to figure out whether or not they
have it. A negative test makes lupus highly unlikely,
which is a good thing, but it doesn't, it's,
how do I put it? It's not 100%. If any of these
tests were 100%, we'd be able to diagnose it
off out the wazoo, and we'd know who has it,
who doesn't, making it a little bit easier to,
you know, to treat, but that's not the case.
To standardize the diagnosis, doctors use a point
-based checklist. If a patient's score for various
symptoms and lab results reaches 10 or more,
then they're more than likely classified to have
or possibly have lupus in some strain or form
or another, which is, again, like I said, not
a very good thing. It's unfortunate, if you will.
all right let's get back to this let's talk about
living with lupus um it's a continuous journey
like i said there's no uh cure for it whatsoever,
which is kind of sad, right? But the goal of
the treatment is to control the disease and improve
the quality of life by preventing flares and
reducing organ damage. That's the end goal here
for a lot of people. It's unfortunate that this
is what they have to go through, but I mean,
what can you do? Within the medical toolkit,
there are three things I want to point out, right?
First is anti -malarials, right? They're like
It's a cornerstone of treatment for almost every
patient to reduce flares. It's like Plaquenil,
if that makes perfect sense, for those who know
what that is. The second one is steroids, right?
It can be lifesaving during serious flares, but
they have significant long -term side effects,
as you're aware, right? It's one of those things
you have to keep in mind. The last one in the
medical toolkit that they have are immunosuppressants
and biologics, or in other words, more advanced
drugs used for severe cases to suppress or target
specific parts of the immune system. When your
immune system goes on an autoimmune rampage,
the best thing that you can do is suppress their
immune system. Long enough for the assault to
stop. The downside to this is that it basically
makes the person almost immunocompromised. In
this state, that means even a common cold or
a sneeze from a passing by person who just happened
to walk into something that just triggered a
sneeze could kill them. This is very, very...
What's the word I'm looking for here? Drastic?
I don't know. I guess the word I'm looking for
here is it's important to note that a person
with lupus is in a higher risk bracket of being
killed by the simplest things as a result of
it or any of these treatments in any case. That
their safety and their need to be comfortable
takes a priority. It doesn't matter whether you
feel some kind of way about it, whether you think
that it's a lie, it doesn't matter. You don't
know for a fact in your mind whether or not they're
okay or not. You don't know if they're just sitting
there suffering. And more times than not, they
are. They are sitting there suffering all by
themselves, no one to help them, and no one to
help them or make them feel better. And by confronting
them about it every single day, you're not making
the situation any better. So it's something just
to keep in mind as far as this is concerned.
The next thing I want to go ahead and point out
is the lifestyle. Like I said, this can be a
very detrimental time for anybody who has it,
right? So if they were to go outside, sun protection
is a must. Rigorous use of sunscreen and protective
clothing is non -negotiable. They don't have
a choice in this matter. Next would be their
diet and exercise. An anti -inflammatory diet
and gentle exercise can calm back the fatigue,
even just a little bit. Next would be stress
management. Since stress is a known trigger,
techniques like mindfulness are crucial. Things
that you have to keep in mind. And then there's
the last one, self -awareness. The key to living
with lupus is recognizing or learning to recognize
your personal warning signs of an impeding flare
-up. Especially since you know that in the slight
instance of a simple sneeze or a simple... What's
the word I'm looking for here? miscalculation
could be your last. And that's something that
I want people to think about. You know? Alright.
So, let's talk about that unseen battle. We've
talked about the science, the symptoms, and the
treatments. But to truly understand lupus, we
need to talk about something that can't be measured
in a blood test. The daily reality of living
with a chronic or often invisible illness. This
is where the real food for thought here comes
in. For many people with lupus, one of the most
frustrating battles is against perception. On
a good day, they might look perfectly healthy
on the outside. They're not in a wheelchair.
They don't have a cast. But on the inside, they
could be fighting debilitating fatigue, brain
fog, intense pain. Like I said before, this disconnect
is the core of what's known as invisible illness.
To help people understand this, the chronic illness
community developed a powerful metaphor that
I want to share with you. It's called the spoon
theory. Now, follow with me here. In the spoon
theory, imagine you wake up every day with a
limited number of spoons. Let's say you get 12
spoons for the day. Each spoon represents a finite
unit of physical and mental energy. Every single
action you take costs you spoons. Most games
have this concept where you only have so many
tasks that you can do with whatever you have.
Example would be kindergarten. You have like
five apples for each room or each section of
the game, right? So if each action you take costs
you spoons, then that means getting out of bed,
that's one spoon. Taking a shower, there's another
one. Making breakfast, oh, there's another one.
How about getting dressed? There's a spoon. How
about commuting to work? Well, that one might
cost you two spoons because not only do you have
to deal with driving and getting in your car,
you've got to deal with the people that's outside.
Oh, there's a topic for later, talking about
driving. My point of the matter here is that
you haven't even started your workday. You're
already down to six spoons. That's half of what
you already got. A healthy person wakes up with
what feels like an unlimited supply of spoons.
They don't even have to think about it. But for
a person with lupus? They don't have a choice.
They have to meticulously budget their energy
every single minute of every single day so that
they know what they can and can't do. Do they
have enough spoons to go to the grocery store
after work? Maybe, but that might mean that they
won't have enough spoons left over to cook dinner
when they even get home. Do they want to go out
with friends? No, that could probably cost them
three or four spoons, right? Leaving them with
energy debt rather than, or deficit rather, rather
than energy left for whatever they need. They'll
have to pay back the extra fatigue for the next
two days. That means they're stuck in bed for
God knows however long. The spoon theory is a
brilliant way to explain this concept of unlimited
energy and the difficult choices people with
chronic fatigue have to make constantly. It's
not about being lazy or unmotivated. It's about
a real physical limit that these healthy people
can't see. It's easy to say, well, you look perfectly
fine. You should be able to do this. No, it doesn't
work that way. They're no different than a handicapped
person. Okay? I mean, personally speaking from
experience here. Just because someone looks like
they're fine doesn't mean they are. You know?
And it's an unseen battle that extends to the
mental health of the person, too. The connection
between lupus and mental health conditions like
depression and anxiety are not just psychological.
reaction to being sick it's it's a direct biological
one the same inflammation that attacks the joints
and skins can also cross the blood brain barrier
you know that thing we've been talking about
over the last couple of episodes here and affect
the brain itself contributing to the brain fog
or memory issues or in worse people's cases mood
disorders so their mood seems to swing left and
right no matter what they do living with constant
uncertainty of flares the stress of managing
medical appointments And the frustration of physical
limitation creates a perfect storm for mental
health challenges. These are kinds of people
that deal with mental disease or mental health
issues on the daily. So how can we as friends,
family, and colleagues be a better support system?
How can we help? Right? First and most importantly,
believe them. When someone with an invisible
illness tells you that they're in pain or too
fatigued to do something, your belief is the
most powerful gift that you can give. Don't say,
but you look so good, or you look help. Don't
say that. Okay? That phrase, often while in tension,
can feel invalidated, deeply invalidating, and
in some cases, suppressing of how they actually
feel. Second, be flexible. Understand that plans
may need to change at the last minute because
of a flare -up. There is no no, or rather, their
no isn't a rejection on you when they tell you,
oh, I can't do that, or I'm sorry. I don't think
I can help you with that today. It's an act of
self -preservation. They're doing it for their
own safety, their own needs, right? Third, offer
specific help. Help, not health. If you could
offer help, that would be great. Offer specific
help, okay? Instead of saying, let me know if
you need anything, which puts the burden on them
to ask or try to say things like, I'm going to
the store. try asking them, do you need me to
go to the store for you? Or rather, I can go
to the store for you. Can I pick up your groceries
for you? Anything of that nature. Or I have some
free time on Tuesday. Can I help you with laundry
or meal prep? Give back. Take the initiative.
Try to be that person that they can come to for
help. That way they don't have to burn out all
of their spoons before they ever get the chance
to complete whatever they need to do. And in
this case, I guess you can kind of say this is
like a... forward way of saying kindness is the
answer, but in all honesty, this is about being
less selfish. These people don't have a choice.
You do. And finally, educate yourself. By listening
to podcasts like this one or reading articles
from the Lupus Foundation, you're already taking
a huge step. The more you understand, the more
empathetic and effective your support will be.
Understand that this unseen battle is crucial.
Because it's the understanding that we find the
true path to hope and healing that we can help
them with. Okay? All right, everybody. Let's
go ahead and finish this off. I have one more
thing I would like to break down, okay? The differences
between lupus and cancer. I know I keep bringing
up the two, but let me actually go ahead and
confront this head -on and tell you what the
difference is. The fundamental difference between
attack versus growth, okay? On the most basic
level, the difference is this. Lupus is an autoimmune
disease, like we just discussed. All of that
that we just went over, right? This means the
body's own immune system, which is supposed to
be its defender, mistakenly attacks its own healthy
tissues and organs. It's a disease of self -attack,
right? Okay, well, what is the difference between
that and cancer? Well, cancer is a disease of
uncontrolled cell growth. This means the body's
own cells mutate and begin to multiply without
limit, forming tumors, not tuners, they don't
form Yu -Gi -Oh cards, and they invade other
tissues. It's a disease of malignant growth.
Think of it this way, right? So in lupus, the
body's army declares a civil war in itself. cancer
a group of the body's own citizens become rebels
and that that build their own destructive empire
to take down what's already there or if that's
too simple um what's okay well actually i feel
like that is too simple let me give a more detailed
look at how the two diseases compare across several
key factors okay first things first like i said
the core problem is that cancer is malignant
right It's an uncontrolled growth of the body's
own cells, versus lupus, which is a hyperactive
immune system attacking its own body tissues,
right? So, first off, their origins, right? Lupus,
like I mentioned before, is a complex mix of
genetic predisposition and environmental triggers
that can cause immune systems in their body to
malfunction. Cancer, on the other hand, starts
with genetic mutations in specific cells or groups
of cells. Then there's their behavior. Like I
mentioned before, With lupus, the immune system
causes widespread inflammation, leading to damage
in joints, skin, kidneys, etc. It's characterized
by flares or sickness and remission or wellness.
Tumors, on the other hand, cells form tumors
for cancer and can invade nearby tissues, metastasizing
or spreading to distant parts of the body utilizing
the bloodstream. Okay, so what about the diagnosis
of the two? First off, Cancer is primarily diagnosed
through CT scans, MRIs, and a biopsy where a
sample of the suspicious tissue is removed and
examined. Can't do that with lupus. Why? Because
it's diagnosed through a combination of patient
symptoms, physical exams, blood tests, that look
for specific antibodies, like that ANA test I
mentioned earlier, and as a result of this, there's
no single definitive test. Cancer is actually
a lot easier to identify than lupus. But in a
lot of cases, it's harder to find because of
where it may or may not be. That being said,
like I said, the next thing would be the treatment
goals. Okay, well, what's the treatment goal
differences between the two? As we mentioned
earlier, for lupus, to manage symptoms and suppress
the overactive immune system to prevent organ
damage and aiming for long -term remission, not
a cure. At some point, it'll eventually stop,
hopefully. Again, this also puts the person in
an auto... an immune deficient state, so they
have to be very careful depending on what type
of treatment they're receiving to suppress the
overactive immune system. On the other hand,
when it comes to cancer, to treat it, we go to
destroy and remove all the cancer cells from
the body. This is aiming for a cure, but it's
also the same as lupus in this respect, that
they're aiming for long -term remission. They
want the cure. But if they can't, they'll try
to see if they can get it to the point where
it's not a problem anymore. Can't do that with
lupus. So, that being said, okay, well, cancer
has primary treatments, right? You're probably
asking. Why doesn't lupus? Well, it kind of does,
but they're not great, okay? For cancer, surgery,
chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy helps
the immune system fight the cancer. That's what
the immunotherapy is for. These are ways you
can fight cancer, and they're known to work to
a certain degree. I'm not a fan of radiation
because it can cause other issues like hair loss
and such, but the same can be said about lupus.
Immunosuppressants, corticosteroids to reduce
inflammation, antimalarials, like I mentioned
before, you're just hopped up on a bunch of medicine
hoping that some of these will eventually cause
your immune system to stop attacking itself and
attacking the rest of your body. But there's
one main difference between these two. Despite
everything that I just read and everything that
I just told you from the research that I've gathered,
there's only one question here that's left to
answer. Is it curable? Cancer? Yeah. Many cancers
can be cured, especially if detected early. Others
can be managed as chronic diseases until the
point where... You know, either they can't afford
to take care of themselves anymore, or they either
grow out of it, or they die. It's unfortunate,
but this is the circumstance. But for the most
part, cancer can be cured. Lupus cannot. It's
a chronic, lifelong condition. There's no known
cure, and treatment mainly focuses on the disease.
That's something to keep in mind, a little bit
of food for thought. I have one more question,
though, and this is something I have to look
a little bit deeper for. I don't think any of
y 'all have ever wanted to ask this question,
but I'll ask it for you. Maybe you've considered
it but didn't want to say it. That's fine. I'll
cover it for you, especially. That way you can
save face, right? Can one cause the other? While
there are different diseases, there can be a
complex relationship between these two, right?
Lupus and cancer risk. Well, let's see. People
with lupus, particularly systematic lupus, erythematosis,
or SLE, has a slightly increased risk of developing
certain types of cancers, most notably lymphomas,
which is an attack on the lymph system in your
body. This is believed to be due to chronic inflammation
and long -term use of immunosuppressant drugs,
which are required to manage this disease, as
I mentioned before. So that is a possible risk.
However... Cancer treatment in lupus, in that
order, it's very rare, actually, believe it or
not. Certain cancer treatments, particularly
newer immunotherapies designed to unleash the
immune system to fight cancer, can trigger autoimmune
responses that mimic lupus, but it's not quite
the same thing. Because in this case, the immune
system is actually being sent out to fight, and
there's actually a target for it to hit that's
not the actual normal body's physical cells.
So then, with this whole thought in mind, what's
the takeaway here? Though both can be present
with similar systematic symptoms like fatigue,
pain, fever, lupus and cancer are not the same
thing. They have completely different biological
origins and require vastly different diagnostic
and treatment approaches. Understanding that
lupus is a disease of a confused immune system
and cancer is just a disease of rogue cell growth,
is the key to grasping the fundamental difference
between these two challenging conditions. All
right, everybody. With that being said... Let's
go ahead and wind out now, right? While the challenges
of lupus are formidable, the narrative is increasingly
one of resilience and hope. For over 50 years,
treatment options barely changed, but the 21st
century has been a turning point, and with new
targeted therapies offering better outcomes,
the final thought is this, okay? Lupus is a chronic
and challenging journey, but... the combination
of more effective treatments, proactive self
-care, and a global support community has transformed
it and what it means to live with the disease.
Millions of people are successfully managing
their conditions. They're refusing to be defined
by it, which is great, and living full, productive,
and meaningful lives. I want you to take that
to heart and give it some thought. This is the
reality of what it is. This is what these people
deal with on the daily. Well, that's all I have
for you guys today. Thanks for tuning in for
Food for Thought, Thoughts If It Were You. I'm
your host, Neogentrix. This is Season 3. I look
forward to the next time, guys, where we'll be
talking about some interesting topics, kicking
back into the whole essential skills bracket.
And I hope you'll have a great rest of your day.
If you have a comment that you want to leave
on what I've discussed, you see I missed some
information or you think it's wrong, or you have
a suggestion for another episode, or topic idea,
feel free to leave a comment down below if you're
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platforms if you're on the go more and you want
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to some old ones. And I hope you all have a great
rest of your day.