FEATURED ARTICLE
Meet Francine Houston: Lupus Survivor, Graphic Artist, Fashion Designer, Author/Poet
Submitted by Francine Houston
There is no known cure but besides taking good care of yourself. I believe Jesus is the antidote. Triggers that cause flare-ups of Lupus symptoms can be environment, the foods you eat and stress. Being diagnosis at the age of 18 while I was in high school, (now in my late-thirties), my life changed drastically. I was introduced to a low-tolerance stress-free life (as little stress as possible) and a low-sodium diet (a renal or kidney diet). Even though I went through college and worked regular jobs, my health was my first priority. It was like I was watching another person or a baby; my health was fragile at times.
“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment; and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she headed immediately. And he said unto her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made the whole’ go in peace” (St. Luke 8:43-48, KJV).
Healthy kidneys, lungs, liver, normal blood, all your hair on your head and energy are normal attributes of a healthy person. In the meantime, a person with an auto-immune disease would be wishing all those things a healthy person had existed for them. There are days I would wake up full of energy, and I didn’t take it for granted. Other days, I pushed myself to get out of bed. I am recovering from a lupus flare-up that actually lasted about two years or so.
Lupus is an auto-immune disease that can attack any organ of your body; blood, kidney, liver, heart, lungs, skin etc.