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Toni Braxton is known worldwide for her talents as a singer, songwriter, and actress. Before she started singing on a larger scale, though, she got her start in the local church choir. It wasn’t until the late ‘80s that Braxton and her sisters got attention as a singing group. In the early ’90s, Braxton was approached to do a duet with Babyface for the ‘Boomerang’ soundtrack. This recording launched her solo career and her debut album was released in 1993.
Since releasing that album, Braxton went on to release several albums and achieved notable awards like the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Along with her singing career, she has had different acting roles and was the executive producer of ‘Braxton Family Values’.
Despite all her success, however, 2008 was a particularly hard year for Braxton. There were financial difficulties as well as problems with her health. It was in that year that she was diagnosed with lupus. In an interview with ‘Prevention’ magazine, she talked about the difficulty of not just being diagnosed but having to tell her children about all her hospital visits.
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Lupus is defined as an autoimmune disease because it causes your immune system to attack healthy cells and tissues in the body. As a result, someone with this disease can experience issues that affect their brain, lungs, kidneys, skin, joints, and more.
In fact, some of the symptoms you can experience when you have lupus include joint pain, shortness of breath, headaches, chest pain, and a butterfly-shaped rash on your face.
While doctors haven’t determined what exactly causes lupus, there are a few factors that increase the likelihood that you’ll develop the disease. If you were born female, have a family history of lupus, and are Black, you have a higher risk of being diagnosed with this autoimmune disorder.
It’s also possible that certain environmental conditions and personal habits can affect your risk. Some possible issues on the list are smoking, exposure to pollutants, continuous exposure to sunlight, taking certain medications, and contracting specific viruses.
It’s not usually easy to diagnose lupus because the symptoms can vary and the earliest signs can point to different conditions. There’s also no definitive test for lupus. As a result, it’s common for doctors to request tests that will rule out other illnesses that could be making you sick.
To make things more complicated, there are four different types of lupus that you can have. Systemic lupus erythematosus can affect multiple organs while discoid lupus erythematosus is focused on the skin. Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus only affects the skin that’s exposed to the sun. Finally, drug-induced lupus can have similar symptoms as systemic lupus erythematosus but is usually caused by medications.
To that end, diagnosing lupus starts with multiple assessments that can include blood tests, urinalysis, antinuclear antibody (ANA) tests, as well as liver and kidney examinations. If your doctor is concerned that lupus has affected your organs, you may also be required to do biopsies, X-rays, and echocardiograms.
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Lupus can’t be cured so your doctor will concentrate on giving you a medical regimen that will keep your symptoms under control. Since this illness is prone to flare-ups, you’ll likely get medication to prevent them.
Some of the drugs you might be prescribed are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), anti-malarial drugs, biologics, corticosteroids, and immunosuppressants.
It’s also important to note that lupus can cause inflammation throughout the body that in turn will cause health complications. That means you’ll have to be tested regularly for health problems like kidney damage, lung inflammation, heart disease, anemia, and other conditions.
Though it’s possible for anyone to develop lupus, some people like Black Americans are at a higher risk. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms that are included here, it’s best to see your doctor as soon as possible because it can take a while to diagnose lupus correctly.
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