Michael Jackson and Lupus

During the voluminous media 24/7 coverage of Michael Jackson’s sudden death, it was mentioned quickly that the singer suffered from vitaligo, which was mentioned often over the years, as well as lupus. My ears pricked up. My husand’s aunt died from lupus and I have had a keen interest in autoimmune diseases ever since. Lupus, hmmm.

Aunt Susie also had lupus attacking her skin. Often when she was doing something she would look down and see a trickle of blood from her wrist or forearm or her ankles. Obviously the lupus was attacking the blood vessels in the skin. In Michael Jackson’s case lupus may have been attacking over skin structures, for instance, the hair follicles and pigment cells. I even read that Vitaligo and lupus are genetically linked and often go hand in hand.

The treatment of lupus I understand is steroids, which enables many lupus sufferers to live with the disease. Steroid treatment may explain many of the “wierd” things we know about Jackson. The pain involved with his lupus may also include have triggered the dependence on pain relievers. Any one with chronic pain is going to be fixated on pain relief and unless there are structures in place to limit drug use, addiction and overdose are inevitable in the long run.

In my reading I have also learned that childhood stress appears to be a harbinger of onset of autoimmune disease later in life. Jackson talked over and over about how stressful his childhood was with all the practice, performance and especially the high expectations and demands of his father on the boy. It seemed to have permanently frozen his development into that of a young child and for that reason he preferred the company of children.

It’s a shame that Jackson appears to have preferred to keep public knowledge of his lupus quiet. He could have been the Michael J. Foxx of lupus and other autoimmune diseases. When autoimmune disease occurs in men it is more damaging and progressive than with women, even though it is more common in women.