Entertainment
Louise Thompson emotional as she reveals lupus diagnosis after months of health difficulties: ‘It’s been really tough – I’ve been in agony’-Samuel McManus-Entertainment – Metro
She nearly lost her life last year during childbirth.
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Louise Thompson has emotionally revealed she has been diagnosed with lupus after battling various health issues.
The 32-year-old has struggled with a number of both physical and mental health issues – including PTSD and suspected Asherman’s syndrome – since giving birth to her son Leo last December.
She nearly lost her life during labour with her son, her first child with partner Ryan Libbey.
Former Made In Chelsea star Louise held back tears as she addressed fans on social media to tell them she had received results from a blood test which highlighted the condition, which affects the immune system.
Other celebrities living with the condition include singer and actress Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, television host Nick Cannon, music legend Seal and comedian Katherine Ryan.
Louise posted a string of Instagram stories to her 1.4million followers, where she told them about her recent diagnosis, saying: ‘I had a call yesterday with one of the rheumatology guys and they got more of my blood test results back and the diagnosis is that I’ve got drug-induced lupus.
‘It means that I’m really tired but also I’ve started to get really really intolerable joint pain, especially if I sit down for any amount of time if I cross my legs.’
Louise Thompson shared her lupus diagnosis in an Instagram story (Picture: Instagram/@louisethompson)
What is lupus?
According to the NHS, lupus is a long-term condition that causes joint pain, skin rashes and tiredness. There’s no cure, but symptoms can improve if treatment starts early.
Lupus is not always easy to diagnose because it can be similar to other conditions, with symptoms including inflammation of different parts of the body including the lungs, heart, liver, joints and kidneys.
The condition can range from mild to severe and often flares up with symptoms becoming worse for a few weeks and sometimes longer. Symptoms then settle down, but the reason why symptoms flare up or settle down is not known.
Lupus is generally treated using anti-inflammatory medicines like ibuprofen, hydroxychloroquine for fatigue and skin and joint problems and steroid tablets, injections and creams for kidney inflammation and rashes.
The mum-of-one explained: ‘I mean I was just on the bus going to one appointment this morning and when I stood up and started walking to the appointment and honestly my knees were in such agony.
‘I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life.
‘I’ve always been so able-bodied and so active, exercise has been such a big part of my life and it’s just so rough having to adapt to all of these new medical conditions so that’s been really tough.’
Louise explained her symptoms flare up when she is sat down or has her legs crossed (Picture: Instagram/@louisethompson)
Louise added: ‘On top of that and almost worse because I can deal with fatigue, I can deal with skin, I can deal with pain but the neurological symptoms have just still been so unbearable and currently, I’m dealing with this never-ending cold.
‘I have mucus coming out of my nose and really bad pain in my ears and I’m not supposed to take anti-inflammatory medication, so ibuprofen because of having ulcerative colitis or all of that.’
Louise, who is the sister of Sam Thompson, suspected she had lupus in October after uploading a photo of a rash across her face.
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She said at the time: ‘A lot of you messaged me mentioning lupus and the (private) doctor I saw yesterday took one look at me and said, ”yeah, lupus big time.”
‘So I’m hoping to follow up with someone more specialist. It’s frustrating because I’ve suggested lupus to the NHS and my gastro team at Chelwest before and they haven’t wanted to follow up at all.’
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