Treatment Overview of Lupus

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Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) Treatment Overview

Although there is not yet a cure for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), you can control your symptoms with proper self-care and medication. Your treatment choices will depend on how severe your symptoms are, which of your organs are affected, and how much your symptoms are affecting your daily life.

If you have mild symptoms (mild fever, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, skin rash) that don't seriously inhibit your daily activities, try home treatment with support and follow-up from your doctor. If you have moderate symptoms that do interfere with your daily activities but are not life-threatening and not causing irreversible damage to your internal organs, you may be able to use good self-care and anti-inflammatory medication to manage your condition. If you have severe symptoms that seriously impact your quality of life or that are life-threatening or causing serious organ damage, you will likely need medication that suppresses your immune system. This aggressive treatment is necessary to prevent permanent damage to your organs and possible death. For antiphospholipid antibody syndrome that causes abnormal blood clotting, you may need anticoagulant medication to slow blood clotting, possibly combined with medication that suppresses your immune system. For serious kidney disease that cannot be controlled with medication, you may need dialysis or a kidney transplant.

What To Think About

Proper self-care is essential for the successful management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), regardless of any other treatment prescribed. It improves your quality of life and may even help delay flares or worsening of symptoms. See the Home Treatment section of this topic for more information.

SLE treatment is complicated by several factors:

The course and pattern of SLE symptoms vary widely. Flares and remissions can occur at any time, making it hard to tell how you are responding to treatment or which treatments are most helpful. Some treatment side effects can be as troubling as the symptoms.

It may not be possible to completely eliminate all of your symptoms for long periods of time, especially without medication side effects. Work closely with your doctor to reach a balance between reasonably controlling your symptoms, preventing damage to your organs, and minimizing side effects of long-term drug treatment. For example, you may take a dose of medication that will control SLE enough to prevent organ damage, but you may still have symptoms such as mild skin rash, muscle aches, and joint pain. Using higher doses of medications for a long time has a high risk of serious side effects. Your doctor will prescribe a dose that controls only the most serious, life-threatening effects and balances the risks of the medications with the benefits of controlling your symptoms.

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Last updated: June 27, 2002

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