Is this disease common is black women over 50? i asked because my mother was recently diagnosed with this disease, she is currently being treated at HUP (hospital of the univeristy of pennsylvania) and one nurse told her race it is uncommon for her. i wanted to know how true this was......and also, is this disease hereditary? she is currently on steroids and other drugs for severe arthiritis in her back and knees, and is currently taking the drug rituxinab intravenously every 3 months or so to deal with the disease. she has alos has episodes of coughing up thick white material that sometimes gets lodged in her throat and was told its due to the disease trying to drop of dead skin, but her issue is in her throat which make is very tough to breath at times, please advise.View Thread