Hello. My name is Harriet Mesic. I have been a lupus patient most of my adult life, and I have found that being a lupus patient is not easy because:

I am always in some degree of pain, but I do not look sick. This sometimes causes conflicts with family and friends. They do not understand how I can be ill, because I look well. At times I have very rosy cheeks from the lupus. Most people associate rosy cheeks with being healthy, but I am not healthy.

If I have to take steroid drugs to reverse potentially life-threatening symptoms, I gain weight. Most people associate weight gain with feeling good and overeating, but I don't feel good, and I don't overeat.

I almost always have overwhelming fatigue, so I cannot be as active as I would like. Most people associate inactivity with laziness, but I am not lazy.

Lupus attacks many organ systems. Although the symptoms vary from patient to patient, they can include joint pain, muscle aches, skin rash, photosensitivity, hair loss, inflammation of the membranes around the heart or lungs, anemia and other blood abnormalities, kidney involvement, and others. Even physicians tend to associate symptoms in many organ systems with hypochondria, but I am not a hypochondriac.

I have a chronic, incurable, potentially fatal disease of my immune system. I am thankful that lupus is not contagious, because the other features of this disease are hard enough to deal with.

Surprisingly, although many people have not heard of lupus, it is a very common disease. It is more prevalent than the combined numbers of those who have muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, leukemia, and cystic fibrosis. It is more widespread among black women than sickle cell anemia. Lupus affects all races, age groups, socioeconomic groups, and both sexes. However, ninety percent of lupus patients are women, with the usual age of onset being between 16 and 36.

In lupus the immune system, which is supposed to protect the body against environmental and infectious agents, turns against itself and attacks and destroys healthy tissue. Without treatment even a mild case of lupus may become life-threatening.

In 1984 I founded a nonprofit organization called the L.E. Support Club (L.E. Is the abbreviation for lupus erythematosus). We publish a fantastic newsletter, the Lupus Beacon with up-to-date, informative articles on subjects that are important to lupus patients. What makes our newsletter different from other lupus newsletters is that our staff writers are all lupus patients, coping with the same problems all lupus patients must face. Our articles are written from the point of view of the patient, not the doctor.

I am so convinced that the Lupus Beacon is the best lupus newsletter available, that I am willing to give you a free copy so you can judge for yourself.