Coming Soon to Your Mailbox: Lupus Now Summer 2008 (and if you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you’ll be missing!)

It seemed only natural for our Summer magazine to have its cover story on how and why UV rays from the sun can be bad for people with lupus. But did you know that UV rays from fluorescent light can affect you, too? We’ll talk about how you can protect yourself from getting a rash or worse -- triggering a flare. (Hint: you can even be fashionable while you’re being safe!) In this story we also include the latest on the law to switch from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, as well as the FDA’s proposed new standards for over-the-counter sunscreen products.

Lupus is called the ‘prototypical’ disease for a good reason -- lots of reasons, in fact: symptoms come and go, mimic other illnesses, change over time, affect just about any part of the body, are different for different people. But what’s it like to have one or two or even three other illnesses besides lupus? For one thing, how do you know which symptoms belong to which condition? And which doctor is treating which condition? Read the stories of three people living with more than their share and gain a new perspective on overlapping symptoms and individual solutions.

Our series of articles on clinical trials comes to a close with this third installment. Find out how researchers feel about the challenges and importance of enrolling participants of different ethnicities, and the different ways investigators reach out to diverse community groups and help overcome cultural barriers. All three articles will be linked with the LFA’s soon-to-launch Website for clinical trials education.

It’s reader survey time again! We want to know what you like about Lupus Now, what you would change, what’s most important to you, and the topics you’d like to see covered in future issues. The survey will be posted online but only through July 21, so look for it here, at lupus.org/magazinesurvey. You’ll be able to read all about the results in the Fall issue, due out in early October.

You know those Internet warnings and water cooler chatter about all the things that can trigger or affect lupus? We put on our investigator hats and looked into the most enduring of these in order to help you separate the facts from the fiction. Five of the best known are featured in Lupus Living in this issue, and we’ll keep putting them in upcoming issues of LN as we hear about them. Your favorites, or any you wonder about, are welcome; send them to lupusnow@lupus.org with “Triggers” in the Subject line.

And speaking of popular topics, who hasn’t experienced the dreaded weight gain from taking prednisone? In Wellness, we discuss how to deal with the physical and emotional effects of that unpleasant side effect. We also offer answers to eight of the most common questions people have when they are first diagnosed with lupus. In the Fall magazine we’ll look at eight more.

Summertime means ... camp time! A variety of camps exist for families dealing with chronic illness, like Lupus Week at Camp Sunshine, and Camp Discovery for children with skin disease. Find out how your gang can take part. And teens, don’t miss this interesting roundtable discussion as three young ladies talk about staying active with lupus, while at the same time taking extra care in the sun.

So, there’s your sneak peek at what’s in store in the Summer issue of Lupus Now. We hope you’ll enjoy it.

Don’t forget, the survey is online now, and we need to hear from you. We get our best ideas from our dedicated readers, so you never know -- your suggestion could appear in one of next year’s magazines!