Hi there again 
Um, I'm afraid I agree with Maia. I have been flaring for...maybe best not to go there...a while but the triggers will definitely make things worse, bring on an extra sort of mini flare. However, they cannot be blamed for everything.
Definitely eating better (it takes a while to truly change habits), resting when needed, becoming as zen as possible all help. They do help a great deal and they do definitely reduce both frequency and severity of flares.
Everybody's flares are different. Some people seem to have pretty severe ones (that hopefully get a lot less severe when medication kicks in - I hope this is true for you), some people have ones that might seem less "dramatic" but seem to go on and on... can you tell I'm in there somewhere? :lol:
Seriously though. We see so many people come here before diagnosis and just after and then we see them not come back once medication kicks in fully. There are sooooo many people with lupus who have regained almost normal lives, who hardly ever flare. These boards are not necessarily representative of that population. There is no reason to believe that you won't be among those people. I truly hope you will be. And, if you're not, you will have learnt to take things one day at a time and to better cope with the disease, to better know your body, know your triggers and your limits....
With exercise - do be careful that regular exercise is maybe not what everybody's idea of exercise is. Don't push your body where it can't go, don't overdo it. Start very very slowly, very very gently. Imagine you are 70 and full of arthritis. Be very kind to your body. And, only when you are sure that that level of exercise is OK do you go on and do a little more. It might take you months to do what you consider as exercise but you will get there. If you are feeling rotten and maybe flaring a bit - skip the exercise, don't "push through" it!
Catching flares early is important, especially if you are prone to more severe ones. We are all guilty of hoping it will go away if we ignore it. By doing that I have, in the past, made myself rather ill and it took me over four months to get back to where I had been before. Always, "if in doubt, give the doc a call" and don't ever play things down when you do. You won't get any medals for being brave!!
hope that helps,
Katharine
Um, I'm afraid I agree with Maia. I have been flaring for...maybe best not to go there...a while but the triggers will definitely make things worse, bring on an extra sort of mini flare. However, they cannot be blamed for everything.
Definitely eating better (it takes a while to truly change habits), resting when needed, becoming as zen as possible all help. They do help a great deal and they do definitely reduce both frequency and severity of flares.
Everybody's flares are different. Some people seem to have pretty severe ones (that hopefully get a lot less severe when medication kicks in - I hope this is true for you), some people have ones that might seem less "dramatic" but seem to go on and on... can you tell I'm in there somewhere? :lol:
Seriously though. We see so many people come here before diagnosis and just after and then we see them not come back once medication kicks in fully. There are sooooo many people with lupus who have regained almost normal lives, who hardly ever flare. These boards are not necessarily representative of that population. There is no reason to believe that you won't be among those people. I truly hope you will be. And, if you're not, you will have learnt to take things one day at a time and to better cope with the disease, to better know your body, know your triggers and your limits....
With exercise - do be careful that regular exercise is maybe not what everybody's idea of exercise is. Don't push your body where it can't go, don't overdo it. Start very very slowly, very very gently. Imagine you are 70 and full of arthritis. Be very kind to your body. And, only when you are sure that that level of exercise is OK do you go on and do a little more. It might take you months to do what you consider as exercise but you will get there. If you are feeling rotten and maybe flaring a bit - skip the exercise, don't "push through" it!
Catching flares early is important, especially if you are prone to more severe ones. We are all guilty of hoping it will go away if we ignore it. By doing that I have, in the past, made myself rather ill and it took me over four months to get back to where I had been before. Always, "if in doubt, give the doc a call" and don't ever play things down when you do. You won't get any medals for being brave!!
hope that helps,
Katharine
