Greetings all. I'm very much hoping you can help me with my current situation. When I was 11 my joints started swelling up daily for a few hours. When they would swell I would also have a rash appear on my joints only. The doctors suspected Lupus but tests were inconclusive (they said I had Lupus indicators).

Throughout my life, I continued to have joint pain and swelling periodically along with a multitude of other symptoms . At 25, I had a hysterectomy and was put on Hormone Replacement Therapy.

A year ago last March, I took myself off of the HRTs due to recurring symptoms that now, I've found could be related to Lupus and not just the HRTs (pleuresy, PVC's, sun-sensitivity, strange cartiledge pain, joint swelling/pain, extreme fatigue, rashes, extreme cold sensitivity, numbness, constantly cold extremities, and occasional confusion).

I'm a teaching assistant and am finishing my Education Degree. This summer I have been going to school from 11am-9pm four days a week and working a side job on my days off. After a particular day of work my knee was extremely swollen. After four days and no signs of relief plus debilitating cartiledge pain on my outer ear, I went to a walk-in clinic. They said I had strep and should be tested for Lupus again. They put me on Prednizone and Cephalexin. Four days later, I was still so tired I couldn't even bring myself to take a shower, and I hurt so badly I thought I was going to go insane. Tuesday I went back to the doctor and he said I had walking pneumonia (no coughing). He didn't do blood work or any X-Rays and said they should do the Lupus test after my run of Prednizone.

Today, I went to a different doctor because I still could not bring myself to barely get out of bed or take a shower. This doctor took blood and said he thinks I have Parvovirus, but will know for sure when the results are back. In the meantime I am in extreme pain and oh-so-tired. I have made an appointment with a Rheumatologist, but they can't see me until September 2.
What can I do for relief until then? I don't have time to feel this way. I start teaching again Friday and have finals for my classes next week. The doctor's gave me the impression they thought I was overexaggerating or just wanting pain medication. Is this common? What should I do? I don't know if an emergency room would be any more sympathetic.

Thoughts?

My Dr. suggested asprin, Ibuprofen for joint pain. When my knees hurt really bad,I rub "tiger balm" on them, then I wrap them (medium tightness) with elastic bandages. I also sleep with a pillow between my knees. I take tylenol pm at night to relieve the pain/ help me sleep through it. I hope this helps some. :)

Dear 8rgreenes, Hello & welcome. In response to your question about how drs. tend to react... Personally, I had a long, hard haul.

But I think the delay I experienced was largely because I have a minority "subset" of SLE, called SCLE, first given its own name in 1978. I never had the *best-known* SLE signs, like positive ANA, malar rash, blood in urine, or anti-ds-DNA or anti-Sm antibodies. Instead I had fatigue, pain, mild fever, hair breakage, nonscarring arm/torso rashes, GI & urinary irritability, urinary stones, migraines, weight loss, chronic B-12 anemia, early osteoporosis, photosensitivity, esophageal spasms, etc.

My skin biopsies had been positive from the get-go, but local dermies & rheumies did not react to really obvious skin biopsy results. I finally did test positive for anti-Ro autoantibodies, a compelling finding; but I remained ANA-negative, which was confusing to my suburban docs but not at all confusing to my big-city doctor. That said, my city rheumie expressed shock that my suburban drs. were so far behind, knowledge-wise (20+ years, or so).

As for ER doctors: I honestly think your best bet is to see a rheumie. ER drs. excel at fast-paced trauma, I think, as opposed to complex diagnoses for subtle diseases for which a detailed medical history must be taken, specialized blood tests ordered, etc. But this is just my opinion & is NOT meant to slur ER drs., who obviously have a very important role to play.

I hope you keep posting; the people here have such wide experience, which they are always willing to share. Meanwhile, sending you my best wishes! Bye for now, Vee

Thanks for the replies. I am not as tired today, but my knees are still swelling. I have weird jaw pain and tingling throughout my arms and feet. Strange, huh?

I received partial news on my blood test today. My white count is extremely high and the regular doc wants me to come back on Monday (hopefully they'll have the rest of the results). I have an appointment for Sept. 5th with a Rheumatologist as well.

I chose to mind-over-matter the pain and am hobbling around a bit but at least feeling somewhat sane. :) I'm also taking Ibuprofen 800mg at the moment. The med will work for maybe 30 minutes then I'll hurt again. Then it will work for 30 minutes then I'll hurt for another 30.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Blessings Abound.