I am a 52 year old female who was diagnosed with systemic lupus at the age of 30. At the time very little was known about auto immune diseases so it was very much trial and error on behalf of my doctors, in particular my physician who used to sit and read from his medical journals whenever I turned up for my appointment because he was so uninformed on the disease.
Initially my lupus (SLE) manifested itself in the form of carpel tunnel of both wrists, arthritis in the elbows and knuckles and huge ulcer-like bruises on my legs. He treated me with very very high doses of steroids to try to shock the lupus into remission. It worked and has worked on other occasions when the lupus has come out of remission. The events that trigger coming out of remission are invariably stress related and were caused, in me, by pregnancy, over exposure to sun, emotional and physical stress. I have been in and out of remission about 6 times in the 22 years I have had lupus and my doctor tells me I am a medical marvel. Not true! I researched the disease throroughly and discovered what the triggers were. I have had , apart from the above conditions, lupoid pleurisy, bronchitis athsma and pneumonia and more recently was diagnosed with lupoid hepatitis. My liver biopsy showed severe scarring yet I neither smoke nor drink. Again I was put on massive doses of steroids and within six weeks was in remission again. The reason? Diet. I followed the liver cleansing diet and it has now become a way of life for me. I eat very little or not fat. I start every day with carrot apple celery and beetroot juice from my own juicer. I avoid fried foods and eat a lot of steamed vegetables and my meat is mainly chicken breast or a very lean grilled steak. I eat Tuna at least twice a week and i also have a lot of rice and pasta. I have fresh garlic in my food every day if possible. I add no sugar to any of my food with one exception. My weakness is low fat latte with caramel. I make sure I eat plenty of fruit and virgin olive oil is the only thing I will cook with.
My physician wanted me to stay on a maintenance dose of steroids when I went into remission my first time but I refused and still refuse to take daily steroids for the rest of my life as I found the side effects to be worse than the disease. I am 5foot eight inches tall and weigh a healthy 140 pounds and have had numerous operations over the years for various gynacological problems yet my doctor is amazed at my level of health and fitness for someone he described as having a walking death sentence when I was first diagnosed.
The only time the steroids didn't send me into remission, the physician tried quinine which is an antimalarial drug and although it took six months to do so, it finally sent me into remission.
I am currently in remission and have been for four years. Good luck, I hope this helps.
Theon thing that has assisted my health