4 Benefits of Infusion Therapy for Lupus

Many systems in your body are connected networks linked to a central organ, like the pulmonary, cardiovascular, digestive, or urinary system. Your immune system is more of a network of organs and cells not directly connected to each other, but all serving the purpose of defending your body against incoming threats, like foreign particles, bacteria, and viruses. Your white blood cells, antibodies, cytokines, lymph nodes, tonsils, adenoids, thyroid gland, skin, bone marrow, and spleen are all working to keep germs and other harmful substances out of your body.

Numerous disorders can affect the proper working of your immune system, including a class of conditions known as autoimmune diseases that actually damage healthy cells by mistaking them for harmful invaders. Lupus is a type of chronic autoimmune disease that can be localized or systemic, and while it has no cure it can be treated. Infusion therapy is a way to offer treatment for this condition which reduces inflammation and prevents tissue damage. Let’s look at the advantages of this treatment by examining what lupus is, how infusion therapy works, and the benefits of the treatment.

If you live in the Norwood, Anderson, and Westside, Ohio, or Crestview Hills, Kentucky, area and you’re struggling with lupus, the team of specialists at Riverhills Neuroscience can help.

Understanding lupus

Autoimmune conditions misinterpret healthy tissue as active threats to your health, and lupus, damages systems throughout your body, including your skin, blood, joints, kidneys, heart, brain, and lungs. This illness appears in intermittent flare-ups and everyone experiences the condition differently, depending on the organ it affects and the severity of the flare-up. 

Symptoms develop slowly and include pain in the joints, muscles, and chest, headaches, rashes, fever, hair loss, mouth sores, fatigue, shortness of breath, swollen glands, confusion, swelling, and blood clots. The exact causes of lupus aren’t known, but research has determined several factors that can lead to it, such as genetic mutations, hormones, health history, and environmental risks.

How infusion therapy works

This is a method that uses a needle or catheter to administer medications intravenously in a controlled manner. This is often an option if you can’t take a drug orally for whatever reason, or taking it that way is not effective enough to deliver the amount your body needs. If you’ve had a hospital stay where you were getting medication through an IV drip, you’ve had a form of infusion therapy. It’s used to deliver a myriad of medications and nutrients for controlled dosing or to slowly introduce medication to your body over some time.

Benefits for treating lupus

There are some definitive advantages to infusion therapy for lupus, like:

1. Directly enters the bloodstream

Infusions are often done with biologics and immunosuppressants, and oral medications, creams, and other ways to get medicines into your body can either work slowly or get broken down before you get the proper amount in your system to be effective. Infusion therapy goes right into the bloodstream to take medicine right where it needs to go without any gatekeeper.

2. Controlled dosing

This also means you have control over how much of it gets into your body at a time. If it’s necessary to administer a drug that has to be carefully dosed and can be ineffective or harmful in the wrong amount, this method is the most effective.

3. Delivering powerful medications

Many medications that are given by infusion are very powerful, and you’re likely to need a lot of them, but you shouldn’t have it all at once. An IV drip infusion can give you as much as your body can take over the period necessary for the best effectiveness and safety for your body.

4. Being able to monitor progress

Because of the process being used and the medications involved, this also allows us to keep an eye on the monitors and your responses while the infusion is happening. That way, anything that happens can be managed immediately.

Lupus is a condition that can make life more difficult, but it can be managed, and we can help. Make an appointment with the team at Riverhills Neuroscience today to see how infusion therapy can help you feel better.