Lupus is an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks the healthy tissues in your body. A few common symptoms include skin rashes, mouth sores, fatigue, swollen joints, and joint pain. Studies show that Black women are three times more likely to develop lupus than other ethnicities and may have it at a younger age. They’re more at risk of having severe symptoms as well as getting the complications associated with lupus such as kidney problems and cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, lupus can be difficult to diagnose because it shares many symptoms with other illnesses. And yet even though this is known, it can take longer for Black women to get their diagnosis than other ethnicities.
In this video, Monique Gore-Massy discusses some of the diseases that Black women get diagnosed with despite their symptoms and why that may happen.
