JESS Impiazzi has revealed her devastating battle with lupus amid her pregnancy.
The Ex on the Beach star has opened up about the reality of having the condition as she loses her hair and suffers with skin rashes all over her body.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack its own healthy tissue.
It can lead to inflammation and even organ damage.
Opening up about her ordeal, Jess said: “These rashes were quickly appearing all over my body.
“If my joints swelling and having arthritis wasn’t bad enough, alongside other invisible symptoms, the visible ones were chipping away at my confidence.
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“Then on top of all that my hair started to fall out. I’d say I lost nearly 50-60% of my hair.
“The daily stress and anxiety of everything kept my lupus active and I’ve honestly never felt so lost and I didn’t know who I was anymore.”
She added: “I was taking steroids to keep my immune system from attacking me and trying different meds to find the ones that worked for me, I’d have the odd day where I felt OK, and pushed myself to try and keep up with commitments.
“But the truth was I was in pain, I was scared and didn’t know how to carry on like this.
“I had to find a new way of living and researched everything I could on lupus, I find some really interesting people online who had got their lupus in remission so I decided to try things out.
“One of those things was getting my nervous system regulated after many years of it not being.”
The star, 36, is expecting her first child with partner Sam Bird, 39, later this year, after a fertility journey.
Jess is due to give birth to her little one in May, after revealing her baby news at the beginning of the year.
The star has been dating her partner Sam since summer of 2024 after splitting from her footballer ex boyfriend, Jermaine Pennant.
