11. Psychiatric symptoms
Other neurologic problems usually experienced by patients with lupus include cognitive changes, dementia, and psychosis. The most common is dementia, and the second most common is cognitive impairment. All of these result from the activation of inflammatory cascades in the brain’s vasculature. This leads to an activation of macrophages and leukocytes in the blood vessels and the deposition of immune complexes in the small arteries and veins of the central nervous system.
As a result, there’s permanent damage in the blood vessels with impaired blood flow to various parts of the brain. That is why stroke is more common in patients with lupus, as well as cerebral edema and other neurologic manifestations.