Seizures and movement disorders are frightening. A seizure can occur during the initial acute phase during a major flare. In the majority of cases, seizures stop when the lupus is adequately treated. One of the more recently recognised features of lupus is the breadth of neuro-psychiatric involvement. Many patients suffer from depression during the acute phase which may become profound requiring psychiatric treatment.
Some patients have brain involvement taking the form of though disturbances.
It cannot be stressed too strongly that, in these patients, the disease ultimately has a good prognosis and with adequate treatment is reversible. One of the main worries is that those who first present neuro-psychiatric or schizophrenic symptoms are wrongly diagnosed and inappropriately treated in mental hospitals. Often patients do not realise that their tear secretion is inadequate. It is important to have regular eye examination. An ophthalmoscope can detect any abnormalities on the eye's blood vessels.