Diet is something most of us with Lupus SLE are interested in. Can food can have had an impact on our immune systems- good or bad?

L-tryptophan is an amino acid dietary supplement that can help aid sleep and depression, but it was withdrawn from the market in 1989 in the USA when it was linked to an outbreak of eosinophilia-myalgia an autoimmune disorder. The ban was eventually lifted in 2005 and seemed to be due to a particular source of L-Tryptophan and in some patients it was found that they metabolized the drug in a different way and this triggered a dramatic autoimmune response.

Another amino acid L-canavanine is found in all legumes (beans and peas etc), but is highly concentrated in alfalfa spouts and testing has shown that it is capable of provoking an autoimmune response similar to lupus, so it is recommended that lupus SLE patients avoid alfalfa sprouts (especially alfalfa seed products) and limit legumes in their diet. 

Other immune stimulating supplements like echinacea or gingko that help the body to fight of illness and infection should be used with care in people with lupus SLE.

If you happen to be shopping in Waitrose on Western Road, you can support Lupus Brighton and Hove support group by putting green tokens in their Community Matters box. We’ll receive a proportion of their £1000 fund based on the percentage of tokens we receive. This starts from Sunday, 27th September 2015 & runs for month until Saturday 31st October 2015.

Please tell your friends and family too (that live in the Brighton and Hove area)- What better way to raise awareness of Lupus during October, which is after all – Lupus awareness Month!

Sometimes we’re contacted by people with lupus who would like to come to our group, but are unable to come along because they work during the day (or find Friday morning’s difficult for other reasons).

So on Tuesday, 6th October 2015 at 6.30pm we’ll be trialling a Lupus Brighton and Hove evening drop-in session at The Earth and Stars pub. All our members new and old are welcome!

Please see our Events page for map and location details for the Earth and Stars pub.

We all arrived at the Courtyard Restaurant last Friday and were all very surprised and sad to find that it has closed down. We quickly relocated and were lucky enough to be able to get a large table in nearby, Carluccio’s. It was a little noisy, but did offer coffees, teas and snacks.  After leaving a note on the menu board outside The Courtyard we hope everyone was able to find us there (apologies if you didn’t!)

Despite the last minute change of venue we had a great meeting with ten of us there in the end.

Kelly had bought along a selection of set menus for three different restaurants (Piccolo’s, CÔTE and Bill’s)  for our Christmas meal. After some discussion we voted and CÔTE came out as favourite.