The Mysterious Disease of Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has admitted to being diagnosed with a borderline positive case of lupus, which runs in her family. It would appear that Lady Gaga could have a difficult problem to deal with. So what is this mysterious lupus disease?

We tend to think of genetic diseases like a death sentence we are doomed to suffer with. But that is an old way of thinking about how we inherit diseases. We know that genes are turned on or off depending on what our lifestyles are. You could think of it this way, if we live the lifestyles of our parents we are more likely to get their diseases. But changes we make in how we eat, exercise, manage stress, and eliminate toxins and chemicals from our bodies can contribute to our ability to change how our body responds.

Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE) is an autoimmune disease, that means the immune system that normally attacks foreign substances like bacteria or viruses, is attacking normal tissue in the body. The symptoms of lupus can be common to or be caused by other autoimmune diseases like hypothyroidism.[i] The patient may initially be fatigued, have vague fevers and joint pain.

It may be that there are external environmental factors that trigger the patient with a genetic history of this disease. According to WebMD, “Despite the nearly identical genetic makeup of identical twins, the probability of the unaffected twin developing the disease if the other twin has it is around 30-50 percent or less. This implies that environmental factors may help determine whether or not the disease develops in a person.”

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Read more: Conditions, Dr. Andrew Lange, Health, Lady Gaga, lupus

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Michele W.

11:48AM PST on Dec 15, 2011

Thank you

send a green star

Chris R.

11:40AM PST on Nov 7, 2011

Thanks!~

11:39AM PST on Nov 7, 2011

Mari '.

3:37AM PDT on Sep 29, 2010

Wow!

Philippa P.

2:28AM PDT on Sep 6, 2010

Lupus is a cruel disease.

Jewels S.

5:23PM PDT on Jul 28, 2010

I have had problems with an autoimmune disease. I went the alternative route and a friend with the same issue went the western route. I personally think your thoughts do affect your health. One of the first things I did when I started my healing process was turn my thoughts to positive ones. I went from on the brink of homelessness and no job to 2 yrs at this position and I am saving to buy a home. Check out the doc movie "what the bleep do we know?" to learn how your thoughts affect you overall.

Bente S.

3:17AM PDT on Jul 28, 2010

Lupus is a mean disease. I hope for a breakthrough in medical treatment of it, Autoimune diseases run in my family.

Ann E.

6:07PM PDT on Jul 22, 2010

Also note that lupus itself can have an effect on the central nervous system (brain) and influence thinking and feelings.

Daniel B.

12:43AM PDT on Jul 18, 2010

Will forward this to my sister who is obsessed with her. Thank you.