Beat Lupus

 

Regan is a singer-songwriter, fitness trainer and mechanical engineer from Denver, Colorado.  She enjoys a normal, energetic, healthy lifestyle.  Her prognosis for continued health is excellent.  Regan feels very blessed to be living this way after having been affected by lupus.  She dealt with pain, fatigue, being overweight, and monthly injections of chemotherapy to suppress an overactive immune system.  Regan is well today.  And she is the exception.  Most lupus patients continue to have struggles throughout their lives.  That is why her goal is to raise awareness about lupus and be a part of the movement that is working to help find a cure.  She also wants to share the diet and exercise methods that have helped reinvigorate her life.  

Regan’s particular lupus involved her kidneys – where inflammation and inefficiency caused damage.  The medication, designed to combat this inflammation, worked.  After completing her chemo regimen, Regan was technically put into remission.  She has the early diagnosis and quick thinking of her medical team to thank for that.  There still remained, however, fatigue and pain in her joints and whole body.  After much research, time, thought, prayer, and serious stubbornness, Regan discovered some tips that helped her gain true health.  Her energy level returned and her pain diminished almost completely.  She did this by researching and developing a specialized diet and exercise program that can be followed even during times of pain and fatigue.  She calls the diet a ’lupus-smart’ diet and has outlined the specialized eating habits and foods in the “Lupus Nutrition“ tab of this website.  Her unique exercise methods are outlined in the “Lupus Exercise” tab.  Both her exercise and special diet are being chronicled in detail in her book, Lupus Lifestyle, which will be made available in early 2010 on this website.  The new lupus lifestyle took time to figure out, and it was worth it.  The work has paid off:  Regan is now feeling excellent and attributes her health to eating right and getting moving.  Regan believes these gentle methods can be used by anyone suffering from chronic fatigue, arthritis, chronic pain, autoimmune disorders including lupus and multiple sclerosis, and other challenges.  Eating a specialized yet easy-to-follow diet, along with effective yet pain-free exercise, can help people suffering with pain and fatigue regain their lost energy, strength, relief and comfort.  Here are ways that Regan achieved health, normalcy, and happiness; hopefully these things can work for you too.  

We want to hear from you.  Please email your stories and share your journey.  Please specify if you would like your story to be posted on the website.  You can send emails to rmizuno@comcast.net or contact Regan directly at (303) 723-0765.  

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Here is more information about Regan’s story: 

Regan was diagnosed with a kidney disease, caused by systemic lupus erythematosus, called “WHO Class IV diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (gn)”. At the time, the best available treatment for this type of kidney lupus was chemotherapy. Regan was told that the alternative to taking chemo was potentially staving off kidney disease for a limited time by using prednisone, but with her particular case and with this particular kind of kidney disease, using prednisone alone would eventually lead to the death of the kidneys.

Given a bad choice and a seemingly worse choice (not doing the chemo), Regan went ahead with the treatment.

The regimen had a good record, based on years of research.  It would be six months of monthly infusions followed by two years of quarterly infusions. The total number of treatments over 2.5 years was 14.

Regan was administered Cytoxan (Cyclophosphamide), a medicine most commonly used for breast cancer. She was shocked to learn it would be at the same concentration as that given to cancer patients. Fortunately her treatments were drawn-out – but, they still caused a lot of fatigue and nausea – as well as loneliness and isolation.  It was a miserable time.  She remembers her rheumatologist saying, “You’re going to feel like ‘crap’ for the next couple of years, but you will be OK”. 

You can understand why Regan is so ecstatic to be in good shape - she’s fit physically, emotionally and mentally. This took a lot of hard work and many, many blessings.

Regan’s goal is to shed light on the gravity of lupus, while showing the hope and positivity that comes with research dollars, doctor-patient education, and the payoff of hard work, eating right, and exercising. Without her early diagnosis, Regan, like so many other misdiagnosed lupus patients, may not have fared so well.

Regan is tremendously grateful to have been taken care of by people who were very familiar with the disease. Her nephrologist has several kidney  lupus patients. Most are doing very well. Her rheumatologist is known as an expert in immune diseases world-over. Regan has several successful lupus-patient friends (successful in the management of their disease and in their lives in general), and one thing is in common:  they all follow certain diet and exercise programs.  What an inspiration these people are!

Regan’s hope is to get the attention of the world. All types of lupus need recognition. Whether it is joint-affecting, skin-affecting, energy-affecting or organ-affecting, all lupus patients benefit from and have quality of life due to excellent research and early diagnosis. Regan likes to joke that she is the poster-child for early diagnosis in lupus, and her correct and swift diagnosis was due to patient / doctor education. Regan’s story was of serious, life-threatening illness, budding into success.

That is why continued research funding is critical. It saved Regan’s life. And she believes further funding will eradicate lupus.

Regan enjoys strong health now with an excellent prognosis.  And until a cure is found, lupus will remain a factor in her life.  Regan continues to follow her own special diet and exercise program, and feels all lupus patients can have a normal, productive life.

Regan enjoys working out, lifting weights, swimming, curling, and skiing.