Lupus Symptoms & Complications
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Constitutional Symptoms
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The most common constitutional symptom is fatigue, along with fever, joint pain and weight changes.
Dermatological Symptoms
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Patients often have a "butterfly rash" across the nose and cheeks, lesions or rash on the body after sun exposure. Hair loss is also a possible symptom.
Gastrointestinal Symptoms
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Abdominal pain is a common symptom due to pancreatitis, peritonitis, vasculitis or restricted blood supply to the bowel. Nausea and indigestion may be symptoms as well.
Cardiac Symptoms
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The most common cardiac symptom is pericarditis, or inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart. Pericarditis causes chest pain.
Complications
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The kidneys are frequently affected by lupus, causing glomerular disease, which affects tubules within the kidney, to develop within a few years. Pulmonary complications may also develop, the most serious of which is an aveolar hemorrhage.
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