A Practical Guide to Coping with Lupus

There are certain ways that can help patients reduce the impact of the symptoms associated with lupus, but sometimes, patients still need to find methods to learn how to cope with it. Here is a practical guide for lupus patients who are still trying to cope with their disease.

According to The Lupus Foundation of America, an estimated of 1.5 million Americans suffer from a form of lupus and at least 15,000 people are diagnosed with it every year, and currently, the biggest percentage of people suffering from lupus are affected by systemic lupus erythematosus (or SLE). It is important to remember that around 15% of people suffering from lupus tend to die prematurely because of the complications that are triggered by this condition.

Nevertheless, most people get to live a “normal life” thanks to how much treatments have improved with the passage of time. Living with lupus can be a difficult situation since there is a constant feeling of fatigue along with chronic pain, making people feel not only physically worn but mentally as well.

The true challenge of living with lupus is caused by the number of areas that the body is affected by lupus. Quite often, people with lupus have to make important lifestyle changes and they have to go through emotional problems as well. It is worth mentioning that this condition can become frustrating at certain points.

How to cope with lupus

In order to make the daily routine easier to cope with, it is a good idea to keep some details in mind. Here we have gathered some tips that may be helpful to cope with lupus on a daily basis:

Exercising

On a daily basis, patients should always find some time to exercise. These are just a few reasons as to why having an exercise routine is essential for people with lupus:

• Exercise has shown excellent results regarding fatigue reduction on people with lupus, which is one of the most common symptoms
• Exercise helps keeping the mind clear, boosting mood, keeping a high level of endorphins, reducing pain sensitiveness and preventing depression
• Regular exercise helps delay the appearance of certain symptoms associated to lupus

Before you begin your new routine, we recommend you to speak to your doctor to see the most effective ways to exercise and also to evaluate your strength and flexibility, since all of this would need to be taken into account when developing your own routine.These exercises should also focus mainly on the upper and lower muscles of the body where inflammation also occurs. 

It is also important to stay motivated since exercising every day demands a lot of time, which in turn, may cause a decline in motivation. There are some tips to help you remain motivated:

• Set goals that are achievable: Increasing the number of kilometers ran per day, losing a specific amount of weight, and completing a marathon are just some examples of the goals you may want to achieve. However, if you want to start with goals that are smaller, you can also look into exercising for a certain amount of time.
• Look in retrospective: In order to stay motivated, it is important to take a look at the improvement achieved up to that moment. 
• Finding inspiration: This is linked to the previous item, motivation plays an essential part in anything related to certain habits. It can come from different sources, however, the most effective one is to keep in mind that it is something people do for their own well-being.

The most popular types of exercise among people with lupus are walking, swimming and cycling since they are low-impact activities that improve muscular strength, promote sleep and prevent conditions that limit the body’s normal functioning.