Selena Gomez suffers from a long term condition called lupus which has a normal life expectancy in most cases, but she suffers from excruciating pain.
The singer and actress was diagnosed with the disease nearly a decade ago in 2014 and told the world about her illness the following year.
She underwent chemotherapy and underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 to treat the autoimmune disease, which is manageable with treatment.
Selena Gomez has a normal life expectancy with lupus
Lupus is a long-term condition that causes joint pain, rashes and fatigue,” explains the NHS. There is no cure, but symptoms may improve if treatment is started early.
It is an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack body organs and can be life threatening in some cases.
In severe cases, people with lupus can have organ failure, but Healthline reports that 80-90% of people with lupus have a normal life expectancy.
“Today, most people diagnosed with lupus in adulthood can expect to live a normal lifespan,” adds Lupus.net.
“We have found that with treatment, patients with lupus can live longer,” Dr. Olivia Ghaw, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told Healthline.
“They are able to live with less disability and morbidity,” she continued. The condition most commonly affects the kidneys and joints.
The singer revealed her diagnosis in 2015
Selena revealed she was diagnosed with lupus in a 2015 interview with Billboard when she was just 23.
“I was diagnosed with lupus and went through chemotherapy,” she said. “That was really the point of my break.”
“I could have had a stroke…I wanted to say so badly, ‘You have no idea. I am in chemotherapy. You are a**holes. I locked myself in until I was confident and comfortable again.
Two years later, she revealed she had to undergo a kidney transplant due to complications from the disease.
The Spring Breakers star shared a photo of herself in the hospital on Instagram and explained that her absence from music was due to the transplant.
“So I found out that I needed a kidney transplant because of my lupus and I was recovering. That was what I needed to do for my overall health,” the singer wrote. Ice Cream.
“Honestly, I can’t wait to share with you, soon, my journey through these past few months as I’ve always wanted to share with you.”
She thanked her family, “the amazing team of doctors” and “beautiful friend Francia Raisa” who kindly donated her kidney.
She suffers “everywhere”
In her 2022 Apple TV documentary My Mind & Me, the 30-something opened up about the excruciating pain she feels.
Selena said she hadn’t ‘felt’ it since she was younger before revealing: ‘Now it just hurts. Like, in the morning when I wake up, I immediately start crying because it hurts, everything.
The star’s pain was caused by an overlap of lupus and myositis, which causes aching and weakening muscles, a doctor has explained.
He recommended a drug called Rituxan which would eliminate joint pain for “about a year”, but the actress was hesitant because the drug was “really hard to do last time”.
In a recent makeup tutorial on TikTok, fans noticed the star’s hands were shaking, which she said was due to her lupus medication in the comments.
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