Vickie24

Are any of you photosensitive? [COLOR=Purple]Yes
Do your symptoms of pain/fatigue worsen after sun exposure or do you have rashes that crop up after sun? [COLOR=Purple] Yes...pain often is worse after sun exposure and I frequently get a red, itchy rash on exposed areas...especially arms & face.

Do you get mouth sores, what are they like? [COLOR=Purple] Yes, like fever/cold sores inside mouth...usually nearer gum area.

Do you get low grade fevers? [COLOR=Purple] sometimes

Do you have lymph tenderness and swelling? [COLOR=Purple] sometimes

Do you have joint swelling or redness? [COLOR=Purple] Yes, especially knees, ankles and elbows

Do you flare with menstration?? [COLOR=Purple] more aching joints then....not sure if it's due to homones though.

Do you have easy bruising or delayed healing? [COLOR=Purple] I bruise very easily.....Healing does seem to take longer but not extremely prolonged.

Also, has anyone ever used steroids like prednisone and seen improvement in their symptoms all around and especially their muscle and joint pain? [COLOR=Purple] Yes...This is most interesting. I have been on Prednisone the last 12 days for an asthma flare and I am noticing a wonderful improvement in muscle & joint pain. It has almost been non existant at times. I am feeling much better overall. I am most definiteley interested in finding out more info on this subject. I was diagnosed with Lupus about 10 years or so ago by a doctor at Kaiser and put on Plaquenil. Just before leaving Kaiser he said I was in remission so I eventually took it upon myself to stop the Plaquenil...which was probably not too bright on my part. Anyway, I had to move to another medical plan due to changing jobs. I starting having symptoms again really bad so I found a new Rheumatologist who seems to think I "may" have a mild form of Lupus so he put me back on Plaquenil and ordered a sleep study. Seems to think I may have sleep apnea...even though I have none of the symjptoms really. The only sleep problem I have is taking a long time to fall asleep; which a lot of the times is probably related to hubby snoring. So the Rhuemi seems to think that most of my problem is really Fibromyalgia. He is so wishy washy though. Won't say which it is for sure till he sees the sleep study results which I go in for the test on Dec. 1st. Now he is the thing about the Prednisone that got me thinking. I went in for my asthma recheck to my regular doctor on Wednesday and she asked if the Prednisone was helping with any of the Lupus aches & pains and I said " well come now that you mention it, it has. I realized that I was feeling so much better in those areas." She said that was one of the wonderful side effects of Prednisone. I had read something that if you had Fibro that things like Prednisone and regular pain relievers would do nothing for it but the fact that I respond to Prednisonhe makes me think that I defininely Do Have Lupus, as well as Fibro. Hope this helps. Sorry for rambling on. Your comments would be appreciated.

Thanks...Vickie

Now joint pain does occur with fibromyalgia, is this right? Yes