From the action point of view, the drugs used to fight systemic lupus are divided in two major types: drugs which fight the disease its self and drugs used for other problems relating to lupus symptoms.
A series of drugs have this way been developed to fight either the disease or the problems related to the disease.
Non-steroid: standard drugs used in rheumatic diseases, and also having a good safety profile, non-steroid drugs are used in lowering inflammation and treating pain; only side effects being that they can cause indigestion, mostly in older patients.
Anti-malarial: derived from the older drug chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine is the most widely used for fighting lupus. Having anti-inflammatory properties, clotting and sun-protection properties it’s one of the best and most used drug at this time. Suspicions were that a high dosage with have very severe side effects causing retinal damage but renewed tests made with the drug show that a normal 200 mg tablet a day has the smallest chance of having serious side effects.
Corticosteroids: this drug is very important to patients with severe lupus. With the help of modern technology and advanced treatment doctors have been able to keep the dosage given to patients suffering from this illness to a minimum or even removing the drug completely from some peoples treatment. Steroid usage side effects are well known and may vary from weight gain to moon face or even osteoporosis in some severe cases.
Immunosupressives: azathioprine and cyclophosphamide are some of the most used drugs from this category. Azathioprine is used in mild cases of lupus regarding moderate kidney disease or in cases where giving up steroids is proven hard. Cyclophosphamide, these days, is used more and more often as an injection being very affective against kidney disease and for severe neuropsychiatric disease. Although having a much higher safety profile, with small dosages being used, it is still not without side effects: reduction in white blood cell count and in the case of higher dosages even failure of the ovaries or sperm-producing cells in males.
Fighting lupus can also be done with drugs that are not necessarily made to combat this specific illness, such a variety of improved blood pressure tablets and diuretics, anticoagulants and even anti depressives. The most recent breakthrough in the fight against lupus is HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and even the contraceptive pill with whom young women with lupus have no serious problems. One of the best and well tolerated treatments is hormone replacement therapy, treatment that has the most success in post-menopausal lupus patients, having also the fewest side-effects.
By: Groshan Fabiola