Palliative Care for Lupus

Lupus is a chronic (long-term) disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. It’s an autoimmune disease, which means that your immune system — the body system that usually fights infections — attacks healthy tissue instead.

Living with lupus has a big impact on a person’s quality of life, and symptoms like fatigue and pain can make managing the condition challenging. But there are steps you can take — like exploring palliative care options — to help you live better with lupus.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care — sometimes called supportive care or comfort care — is any care that focuses on improving your quality of life and helping you feel more comfortable.

There are many different types of palliative care. You can get palliative care at any stage of an illness — even while you’re getting other treatments for lupus.

It’s important to know that palliative care is not the same thing as end-of-life care. One type of palliative care, called hospice, focuses on making a person comfortable at the end of their life. But most types of palliative care are not hospice.

Lots of different professionals can be part of palliative care. Depending on the palliative care services you get, you might work with your primary care doctor, a palliative care specialist, a rheumatologist (a type of doctor that specializes in conditions like lupus), a pain management specialist, a social worker, a mental health professional, a physical therapist, or others.

And palliative care doesn’t just benefit people with lupus. By improving quality of life for a person with lupus, palliative care can help to relieve stress for their loved ones and caregivers, too.

Types of Palliative Care

There are many different types of palliative care. Some of them focus on managing or improving lupus symptoms, while others focus on offering emotional, social, or spiritual support.

Remember, everyone with lupus experiences it differently. The types of palliative care that will help you most will depend on your specific symptoms and support needs.

Managing Lupus Symptoms

Some palliative care treatments aim to help you improve or manage symptoms. For example, palliative care may help you manage symptoms like:

Joint pain. Your doctor may be able to prescribe pain medicines, or you may be able to try other complementary and alternative medicine therapies, like massage or acupuncture, to help with pain.
Fatigue (feeling very tired most of the time). For example, working with a sleep specialist can help you improve your sleep routine and get more rest.
Shortness of breath. Therapies like pulmonary rehabilitation can help you breathe more easily. With pulmonary rehabilitation, you work with a specialist to learn breathing exercises to improve your breathing.
Muscle weakness. For example, working with a physical therapist can help you strengthen your muscles.
Digestive problems (such as nausea or stomach pain): A palliative care physician or gastroenterologist can help manage these symptoms with diet changes, medications, or other strategies.

Getting Emotional, Social, or Spiritual Support

Lupus doesn’t just affect the body. For many people, living with lupus can have a big impact on their mental, emotional, and spiritual health, too.

Some types of palliative care focus on providing support in these areas. For example, you could:

Talk with a mental health professional to get help with depression or anxiety
Work with your primary care doctor to make a plan for managing stress, which might include things like getting physical activity or trying meditation
Join a support group for people with lupus to share about your experience and connect with others who might be going through the same things
Connect with a religious or spiritual advisor to help you make sense of lupus’s impact on your life

How can I Access Palliative Care?

If you’re interested in learning more or trying out palliative care treatments, start by talking with your doctor. Know that your doctor might not bring palliative care up on their own, — it’s okay for you to start the conversation. And keep in mind that your doctor might use other terms — like supportive care or comfort care — when talking about palliative care options.

Your doctor can talk to you about the different options that are available. They can also explain the benefits and any possible risks or downsides of palliative care treatments to help you make an informed decision. Improving your quality of life through palliative care can be a goal of your overall lupus treatment. Your doctor can help you find the right treatment plan.

Remember, the decision to try palliative care — or any other type of treatment — is your decision to make. Your doctor is a partner to help you understand your options, but they should never make you feel pressured to try something you don’t want to do. You can also stop a treatment if you want to — just be sure to talk with your doctor first so that they can give you advice on how to do it safely.

Will Insurance Pay for Palliative Care?

Many private insurance plans, Medicare, and Medicaid cover at least some types of palliative care — but exactly what’s covered varies from plan to plan. It’s also important to know that insurance might not cover the full cost. Depending on your plan, you may need to pay for some of the cost yourself.

To find out if your insurance plan covers palliative care, check your plan details, or reach out to your insurance company for more information.

These resources can help you learn more about health insurance and paying for medical care:

Learn More About Living With and Managing Lupus

Lupus can have a big impact on your life. There are steps you can take to help manage the condition and live better with lupus. These resources can help:

And if you’re a loved one or caregiver of someone with lupus, explore these resources:

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Tags:

Health and wellness, Treating lupus

Last updated: June 30, 2025

Medically reviewed: June 24, 2025