Changes in Weight
Lupus can make people gain or lose weight. In addition, if the patient is taking a particular medication or the disease is active, they may lose their appetite. As always, doctors should be informed of unusual activities to prevent a condition from turning severe. For example, the patient must tell the doctor if the prescribed medication made them lose their appetite so that the doctor can replace the medicine with another type that is friendlier to the stomach.
On the other hand, a lupus patient could also gain weight. Corticosteroids can make most patients add more pounds. The doctors will recommend a balanced diet to prevent the patient from gaining weight while taking corticosteroids. Properly managing lupus requires a team of specialists; thus, a patient could have a dermatologist, cardiologist, nephrologist, neurologist, gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, perinatologist, and nutritionist to look after them.
Weight gain can be difficult to manage, and for people with lupus, it is vital to monitor their weight from the start. For example, a woman with lupus aged 35 and 44 has a 50 percent chance of having a heart attack. Moreover, maintaining a proper weight eases the pressure on the joints and helps the body’s organs to work efficiently and productively.
