Lupus and AIDS

On Tuesday February 12, 2019, I accompanied our District Supervisor in visiting private schools that are under her supervision. As we entered the compound of the Holy Rosary Academy (Hinunangan), a student  approached me and asked, "Ma'am, are you from the DepEd?" And I replied, "Yes."

The student added, "Are you a DepEd's nurse?" I just simply answered her, "Sorry. I am not a nurse but a teacher." I smiled at her. I just don't know if she noticed my smile because it was  hidden by the face mask that I was wearing.

But why am I wearing face mask? Is Lupus Contagious?

Wearing face mask is one of the recommendation of my doctor. It doesn't mean that my illness, "Lupus," is contagious, because Lupus is an abnormality in my genes not an infection. The illness can be passed to the offspring through genes just like it has been passed through me by one of my parents.

So, if I am wearing face mask, it is not to protect you from my illness, but to protect me from possible infection or from the disease that I might get from the air. I need to protect myself because my immune system is currently compromised.

Compromised Immune System

Taken on
February 16, 2019, before
seeing my doctor at
Nephroline Dialysis Center

When talking about "compromised immune system," you might immediately think of a person having an HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Viruses) or suffering from AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). However, even if my immune is currently compromised but it doesn't mean that I have an HIV. The real reason why I have this immune condition is because I am taking immunosuppressive drugs such as the Mycophenolate Mofetil, Hydrochloroquine Sulfate and Prednisone. Suppressing or lowering  my immune or making it underactive is  part of the therapy against Lupus.

Actually, my immune system's current condition, which is called "Drug-Induced Immune Deficiency (DIID)," is different from that of the AIDS. DIID and AIDS are both immune deficiency but they are just few of the kinds of immune deficiency condition. We also have the Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID), and the Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID).

Lupus Versus Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

Lupus and AIDS are both immune-related illnesses, but they are directly opposite to each other.

The person with Lupus has an overactive immune system, while the immune system of the person with AIDS is underactive. And the person with overactive immune is well protected against infection, but the person with AIDS can easily get an infection.

With regards to the treatment, the treatment for Lupus and AIDS are opposite too. The person with Lupus needs to undergo a treatment that will suppress or control or slow down the immune reaction. While the person with AIDS needs a treatment that will energize, activate or increase the level of his immune reaction.

But of course there are cases that Lupus and HIV-AIDS do exist in one person. This happens when a person with Lupus is infected by HIV. I just don't know what would be the effect of HIV to Lupus. I have read a lot of publications about it but I found nothing that would be favorable to Lupus patients. But there were studies made about it, and researchers found out that the immune system of the person with both Lupus and HIV produced antibodies that fight against the HIV. More studies have been made for the researchers to find ways in getting vaccine against HIV. And soon, if these studies will be successful, I think, vaccine against HIV will be available in the market.

My Immune System is My Friend and My Enemy

Normally, our immune system is our friend. It protects us from harm. It frees us from invaders.

But for us Lupus patients or anyone with autoimmune illness, our immune system is not just our friend, but our enemy too. As a friend, it protects us from foreign bodies like bacteria, virus, fungi, parasites, dusts, or anything that are not part of our bodies, including transplanted organ. It also attacks our own cells that became zombies like cancer cells and those cells where the foreign bodies attached themselves, so that the good cells will be protected.  As an enemy, it attacks our own good cells and it will not stop attacking us until we die.

In other words, I, as a Lupus patient, have an abnormal immune system that attacks my kidneys (that's why I have nephritis), lungs (enlarged lungs), heart (enlarged heart), and my blood (chronic anemia). In other Lupus patients' case, their immune systems attack their pancreas (so they have diabetes), and other organs... the worst case is when the attack is made against one's brain (patients will suffer from seizure and other brain damage including paralysis).

This illness is not contagious.  So, you don't have to worry if I am near your, sit besides you or talk with you. Don't be bothered if I am always wearing face mask (I just want to be protected from possible infection because, currently, my immune system is compromised or being turned less active). 

In explaining my illness to other people and in order for them to understand the nature of my illness, my husband always compares me to a car with factory defects. But the car can be brought back to the sales agent for replacement, but he couldn't or don't have the courage to return me to my parents. What I mean is that this abnormality in my immune system might be present in me since I was born. It is possible that I got this abnormality from one of my parents, and that particular parent got this abnormality from one of his or her parents too. It is also possible that my siblings (my brothers and sister) and my children, also my nephews and nieces, have this abnormality too. In short, Lupus is our clan's wealth... It is our friend and enemy.

So, if you are related to me in consanguinity, then you might have this abnormality too. But you don't have to worry, because it doesn't immediately activate itself. According to the experts, STRESS is the triggering factor in the activation of this abnormality.