According to Loyola University Medical Center neurologists, lupus and other rheumatologic diseases can manifest as neurological conditions such as headaches and seizures, delaying diagnosis for months.
Rheumatic disorders, which include most types of arthritis and spondyloarthropathies (inflammatory spinal ailments), are typically severe, chronic, and progressive, meaning they get worse over time. Many rheumatic diseases can be slowed down with early diagnosis and therapy.
Dr. Sean Ruland and colleagues describe in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports that therapies for rheumatologic illnesses can have negative neurological effects.
Lupus, systemic vasculitis, and ankylosing spondylosis are examples of rheumatologic diseases, which are autoimmune and inflammatory disorders of the joints and soft tissues.
Lupus can lead to cardiac issues including strokes. Over half of lupus patients experience headaches, and a third experience migraines. Lupus headache, described as a chronic, severe, and intractable headache that does not respond to narcotic drugs, affects about 1.5 percent of people.
Rheumatic disorders presenting as neurological syndromes may pose diagnostic challenges.
Dr. Sean Ruland and colleagues
Seizures affect up to 20% of people, while cognitive dysfunction affects a third. Up to 20% of people with lupus suffer from mood issues. Paranoia and hearing voices are common symptoms of lupus psychosis, which can be mistaken for schizophrenia.
The central and peripheral nervous systems are affected by neurological illnesses. To put it another way, the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, nerve roots, autonomic nervous system, neuromuscular junction, and muscles are all part of the nervous system.
Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias, cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke, migraine, and other headache disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, neuroinfections, brain tumors, traumatic nervous system disorders caused by head trauma, and neurological disorders caused by malnutrition are all examples of these disorders.
Neurologic diseases such as headaches, seizures, stroke-like syndromes, and visual neuropathies can occur in patients with systemic vasculitis. A third will have neurological abnormalities that will necessitate long-term immune system suppression medication.
Headaches, cerebellar and brainstem dysfunction, cognitive deficits, seizures, and cranial neuropathy are all symptoms of ankylosing spondylosis.
“Rheumatic disorders presenting as neurological syndromes may pose diagnostic challenges,” Ruland and colleagues write.
Immunosuppressive medicines and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are among the medications used to treat rheumatic conditions. Treatment options have been expanded with the introduction of new drugs.
“However, these treatments also carry a risk of adverse neurological effects,” Ruland and colleagues write. “Therefore, familiarity with neurological manifestations of rheumatologic diseases, diagnosis and potential nervous system consequences of treatment is paramount.”
Neurological problems affect hundreds of millions of people around the world. Every year, more than 6 million individuals die as a result of a stroke; over 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income nations. Epilepsy affects more than 50 million people globally.
There are an estimated 47.5 million people living with dementia worldwide, with 7.7 million new cases diagnosed each year. Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia, accounting for 60–70% of all cases. Migraine affects more than 10% of the world’s population.
