Sle For 20 Years And Counting.....................

I am a person who have been diagnosed to have SLE when I was 12 years old. I am just 32 now. :) I have been living with the highs and lows of this disease for the last 20 years. I have kidney problems, AVN of the right hip(which needs a replacement), a bit of cataract and really good arthrities on almost all of my bones. When I was first diagnosed it took about 5 years for me to go into remission. Since then I have flared up two three times. I had a check up about a week ago and I am showing sings of starting a flare up. And I am going to get my hip replaced soon so that I can walk better. (Now I walk with a very big limp which has become part of my identity.)

It is difficult for my family to cope with this but so far we have succeeded. My parents are not alive. I have a son who is 8 years old. My pregnancy was very complicated due to my illness so we decided to stop having children after my son was born. My husband is supportive. (I am from India and so I had an arranged marriage. He did not know the seriouness of the illness before marriage. Still he is supportive.)

I work as a System Analyst in a leading software development firm. Even with all these complications I lead a normal life. I am really lucky to get a very good treatment.

Dont be depressed. It is not something which is not managable. Be strong. You can live with it.

Regards,
Lavanya.