How Has Lupus Impacted Living With CKD?

I never thought I would experience a disease that can bring you through so much. I was diagnosed with lupus at the age of seventeen and my mother had it as well. I never thought I would ever experience the things that I went through at such a young age.

I was incorrectly diagnosed with eczema first, which definitely set me back in properly treating my lupus. Once I was diagnosed with lupus, me not taking the disease seriously also played a role. I never actually saw my mother in the hospital because of her lupus, I just knew sometimes I would not see her for a while. Sometimes she would be home in bed all day, but I just thought that was from her overworking and not because of her lupus. She is truly an inspiration to me.

Impacts of my medication

When my lupus gets bad, it usually starts to affect my skin and then secondly, my organs. This requires kidney biopsies, high steroids, and other medications added on due to kidney failure. Having renal failure sometimes require chemotherapy or dialysis. Both kidney failures I have encountered only chemotherapy drugs.

I am so grateful not having to do dialysis or needed a transplant yet. But to go through chemotherapy can bring your body into different stages of pain.

First, joint pain. Your joints lock up and muscle spasms start to happen. Second, your hair falls out and then you end up going through emotional pain because your starting to see the damage that could be done with drugs. Third, Your skin becomes affected which causes you to be diagnosed with discoid lupus. This is when the body attacks the skin. Some doctors might say that this is part of the healing process, but that has not been my experience.

Not giving up

Having lupus can make you go into kidney failure because lupus affects all organs and can lead you to having organ failure. With it being an autoimmune disease, I just had to find different lifestyle changes I needed to do to become more healthy and take better care of myself, including exercise. Cardio and intense workouts at least four times a week has always helped me get on a better track.

For the past 11 years, I have experienced lupus with going through two kidney failures and I must say that it is not for the weak. The long hospital stays with intense medication can change your life. Then comes the rules of what you can and cannot do with your life. Your whole life starts to be controlled by your doctors. Who doesn’t want freedom? Each time I suffered a kidney failure, I ended up being in the hospital for two months each time. Each time required medication like Cellcept, Imuran, or Rituxan, and it was with a high dosage of steroids. These medications helped put my kidneys in remission, but it took dedication as well. I know times get hard but do not give up on the possibilities.