May is Lupus Awareness Month and today, May 10, is World Lupus Day.
Across the planet, people are putting on purple to spread the word about the autoimmune disease. Lupus affects women, especially women of color, most often between the ages of 15 to 44 years old.
Symptoms of lupus include extreme fatigue, hair loss, the mylar rash (also called the butterfly rash across the face), joint pain, swelling in hands and feet, and fevers.
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While lupus has many symptoms, that doesn’t necessarily help with diagnosis.
"One of the main reasons it's so difficult to diagnose lupus is because the symptoms often mirror other illnesses. So there are so many, but when you have the combination of so many of them, that may be a time where you want to seek a medical professional's opinion as to what this may be," said Alisha Scott, Northeast development manager of the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA).
This month, the LFA is hosting two events celebrating last year's lupus walks and looking ahead to the 2023 events:
- Hartford Power Party, May 21 at 2 p.m.
- Norwalk Power Party, May 25 at 6:30 p.m.
Here in Connecticut, we have two lupus walks coming up in the fall:
- Hartford area: Saturday, September 30
- Norwalk area: Sunday, October 22
For more information on upcoming local events and on lupus, visit their social media or website for more information.
