Today, S. Sam Lim, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Emory School of Medicine, and chief of rheumatology at Grady Memorial Hospital, will host a live chat on the Lupus Foundation of America website to help educate people with lupus about the need to adhere to their medications as prescribed.
S. Sam Lim, MD
Lim heads two lupus clinics and is involved in several federal, state and privately funded projects, including the CDC-funded Georgia Lupus Registry. He also serves on the Medical Scientific Advisory Committee of the Lupus Foundation of America and its Georgia Chapter.
Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys. The potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans.
Medications cannot cure lupus, but they play an important role in managing the signs and symptoms of lupus and can often prevent or slow organ damage. Medication treatment for lupus often involves reaching a balance between preventing severe, possibly life-threatening organ damage, maintaining an acceptable quality of life and minimizing side effects.
Because most lupus symptoms are caused by inflammation, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and antimalarial medications are usually enough to reduce symptoms, says Lim. Medications range in strength from mild to extremely strong, and often several drugs are used in combination to control the disease.
According to a new study published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research, depression is a leading reason why patients with systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may not take their medication.
Good communication between people with lupus and their doctors is essential to ensure effective management of the medicines that are prescribed, says Lim. An array of drug therapies is now available, and more than 30 clinical studies are underway of potential new treatments for lupus. Lim recently received a $1 million grant from the Georgia Department of Human Resources to continue his work gathering data for the five-year-old Georgia Lupus Registry, the largest, most comprehensive population-based lupus registry in the country.
