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Treatment
Being a chronic disease with no known cure, the treatment of lupus erythematosus is symptomatic. In essence, this involves preventing flares and reducing their severity and duration when they occur. Currently, medication is the main form of treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus.

Medications
Due to the variety of symptoms and organ system involvement with lupus patients, the severity of the SLE in a particular patient must be assessed in order to successfully treat SLE. Mild or remittent disease can sometimes be safely left untreated. If required, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antimalarials may be used.

Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs
Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are used preventively to reduce the incidence of flares, the process of the disease, and lower the need for steroid use; when flares occur, they are treated with corticosteroids. DMARDs commonly in use are antimalarials and immunosuppressants (e.g. methotrexate and azathioprine). Hydroxychloroquine is an FDA-approved antimalarial used for constitutional, cutaneous, and articular manifestations, whereas cyclophosphamide is used for severe glomerulonephritis or other organ-damaging complications. In 2005, mycophenolic acid became accepted for treatment of lupus nephritis.

Immunosuppressive drugs
In more severe cases, medications that modulate the immune system (primarily corticosteroids and immunosuppressants) are used to control the disease and prevent recurrence of symptoms (known as flares). Depending on the dosage, patients that require steroids may develop side-effects such as central obesity, puffy round face, diabetes mellitus, large appetite, difficulty sleeping and osteoporosis. Those side-effects can subside if and when the large initial dosage is reduced, but long-term use of even low doses can cause elevated blood pressure and cataracts.

Analgesia
Since a large percentage of lupus patients suffer from varying amounts of chronic pain, stronger prescription analgesics (pain killers) may be used if over-the-counter drugs (mainly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) do not provide effective relief. Moderate pain in lupus patients is typically treated with mild prescription opiates such as dextropropoxyphene and co-codamol. Moderate to severe chronic pain is treated with stronger opioids, such as hydrocodone or longer-acting continuous-release opioids, such as oxycodone, MS Contin, or Methadone. The Fentanyl duragesic transdermal patch is also a widely-used treatment option for the chronic pain of lupus complications because of its long-acting timed release and ease of use. When opioids are used for prolonged periods, drug tolerance, chemical dependency, and addiction may occur. Opiate addiction is not typically a concern for lupus patients, since the condition is not likely to ever completely disappear. Thus, lifelong treatment with opioids is fairly common in lupus patients that exhibit chronic pain symptoms, accompanied by periodic titration that is typical of any long-term opioid regimen.