October is Lupus Awareness Month

Everyone who knows me, I think is aware of the fact that I have Lupus. It's hard to miss, especially when it gets in the way of the events I want to attend with them, or even the movie night we plan to have. At this

point in my life, I have lived longer with Lupus than I have lived without. I know I had a normal happy childhood, if I was a rather predisposed to picking up germs, maybe that was a sign of what was to come, but in terms of my life without Lupus, I really don't remember it.

Someone asked me to describe Lupus to them. To me, it is like wearing a prickly blanket. This blanket may seem to be just fine. Maybe one or two pricks here and there, totally manageable, then one wrong turn and it shows all of its prickles and you are down and out for the count. Unfortunately, this blanket also masks so many things. It can also mimic so many others. That is what it makes it so difficult to diagnose and so hard to cope with. Often Lupus patients are not dealing with just Lupus. Lupus patients also often have depression, migraines, Sjogren's, Reynaud's and Fibromyalgia. Lucky us. Me, I have only 3 out of 5 of those. Go me!

I am not asking or sympathy. I am asking that awareness and knowledge be spread far and wide so people know about this disease. So that maybe one day there will be a cure, and it will not just be about surviving.