[DnA]

Hi All

Whilst talking to my mum today she made a confession - I was born next to a farm and spent the 1st 5 years of life outside at crop spraying time. She said she hasn't told me before because she didn't think it relevant as my brother has no health problems.

I have been ill most of my life and my skin sensitivity is extreme. I'd be interested to know if anyone else here has lupus and has ever been over exposed to pesticides and the like...

Thanks

Sammy

 

[pokey13]

Hi,

When I was young there was a bug spraying truck that would come through our town blowing pesticides up and down the blocks,, to kill off the mosquitos. Well being young and not to bright, all the kids on the block would ride our bikes right behind the truck in the huge cloud of smoke. We did this for quite a few years, I don't live in that area anymore so I don't know how others have been affected but my brother and I have SLE and my other two siblings have autoimmune symptoms. My family and I have often wondered if that was the cause of all of us being ill.

~Angela

 

[lazylegs]

Hi Sammy,

My parents were sure they somehow had passed Lupus on to me. I had to reassure them that it wasn't their fault. Even is there was something they did not do it intentionally.

Researchers are looking but still have not pinpointed a cause. It could be environmental, genetic, hormonal or something unknown at this point.

Take care,
Lazylegs

 

[angie1]

Hi,
I was born and raised in a town that is famous for its apple orchards and both my mom and dad worked in a fruit packing plant. I also worked in a fruit packing plant (apples) two years before I was diagnosed with lupus. That really makes a lot of sense to me. One other employee also had lupus. Something to look into further!

Angie

 

[Maia]

There have been some small studies that do seem to indicate this is a possible contributing factor to developing lupus. But it is far from "proven" to be true at this point. There are a lot of other things thought to be possible environmental triggers for lupus. Another example would be exposure to mercury even at low levels - it's thought to accelerate and/or increase the disease severity of lupus but not necessarily CAUSE lupus.

I grew up in a town with a coal fired power plant that is today ranked in the top 3 mercury polluting power plants in all of USA! I never knew about how bad the pollution was until the last year or two... when they finally started making improvements to the plant to reduce emissions.