The Norfolk Lupus Group is a regional support group for people who are living with and learning to live with Lupus, and is part of LUPUS UK

Lupus is a currently incurable genetic disorder of the immune system, which although not widely known about, is actually more common than Leukemia, Muscular Dystrophy, and Multiple Sclerosis. Indeed those three conditions share a number of symptoms with Lupus which helps to make it a very difficult condition to diagnose.
In simple terms, Lupus is a condition where your immune system goes into overdrive, and produces too many antibodies. An antibody's job is to find bacteria within your body and disable it, making it easier for your white blood cells to capture and destroy. However, when your body produces too many of these antibodies, they begin attacking healthy parts of your body causing inflammation and damage.
Lupus affects more women than it does men. Approximately 90% of Lupus patients are women, with the other 10% being made up of men and children. There are three different types of Lupus.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, often referred to as SLE is the most dramatic incarnation of the condition. As the word systemic implies, it can affect just about any part of your bodily system, most notably the joints, skin, kidneys, lungs, heart, and the brain. If left untreated, this can result in serious permanent damage.
Discoid or Cutaneous Lupus mainly affects the skin, and manifests itself in a red rash or colour change, normally on the chest, face head or scalp. Interestingly, the red rashes are the source of the name Lupus. The Latin name for Wolf is Lupus, and it was once believed that the rashes resembled a wolfs bite. The butterfly motif that most Lupus organisations use is derived from the shape of the malar rash which occurs on many patients faces.
Drug Induced Lupus is caused by some prescription medications, usually for blood pressure and heart conditions. It manifests itself in the same way as SLE, but usually clears up when the medication or treatment ends.