When Liz Inguanez was officially diagnosed with lupus three months ago she was relieved to finally know the name of the mystery illness that had been affecting her for months.
The Hoppers Crossing resident initially thought she had the flu. Then doctors suggested she was actually battling depression before lupus was diagnosed at Footscray Hospital.
“I’d never heard of lupus but it was really nice to have a diagnosis,” Ms Inguanez said.
“There’s a need for more education. A lot of health professionals aren’t aware of lupus.”
The potentially fatal auto-immune disease affects more than five million people worldwide and mimics other illnesses and conditions such as epilepsy, meningitis, stroke, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, depression and schizophrenia.
The disease affects Ms Inguanez’s joints, causing rheumatoid arthritis in her neck, shoulders and fingers.
She said the hardest part of living with lupus was that few people knew about it.
“It’s a hard disease to deal with,” she said. “Everyone knows about MS and breast cancer but people aren’t aware of lupus even though it affects more people than both those diseases.”
In a bid to raise awareness of the disease, Ms Inguanez took part in the Melbourne Marathon’s three-kilometre walk on Sunday with her children Sienna, 9, Mason, 11 and Tarnah, 12.
“If just one person asks about lupus after seeing us, it will make a difference,” she said.
