paperbagprincess - I feel for you, I really do. I know the frustration and how things seem to conspire against you. I've always felt that the firm fibromyalgia diagnosis years before the AI stuff turned on, did nothing but delay and prolong anyone taking the other symptoms seriously. Everything got chalked up to fibromyalgia, and then menopause after that.
I had mysterious rashes, fever flares, and a variety of joint and muscle pain with extreme malaise and fatigue - but over a period of years, and no single doctor was witness to all of them - and never all at once. In fact, in my 30's, I had bizarre and frightening elbow pain that would come on and immobilize the arm and keep me from any activity at all until the Rx Naproxyn would kick in. MyGP ran tests at that time - ANA was 1:80 and sed rate was high, but not extremely so. I was checked for Sjogren's and was negative. The elbow attacks went away after a couple years, and in 20 or so years have not returned. Just have a host of other problems to deal with now. Related? Probably.
In fact, during a 2 year period of seeing my first rheumie, never once did a CRP or ESR come back high. But the ANA finally reached 1280. When I saw another doctor related to the Celiac disease, and a different lab was used, suddenly the CRP was 4-5 times the high end of the range, and has remained high, though there has been a gradual reduction. My ANA, since being on Plaquenil (2+ years) and becoming gluten free, has been negative once, and is now hovering around 1:80. I've had some relief, but I still don't feel very well most of the time and it has certainly impacted my ability to enjoy life in the same way.
I was in my 50's when the ANA turned on again in a big way and I was taken a bit more seriously. Read everything you can - be consistant with tracking your symptoms - always obtain copies of your lab results - and definitely get a rheumatology consult. It's hard enough for rheumatologists to nail down these symptoms/causes - so relying on your GP or dermatologist just won't be enough. Some people get lucky that way - but not most. Beyond that, you have to keep an open mind and not "decide" that you have lupus, RA or something else - which is limiting and bound to cause more frustration. Find a doctor - it takes time and endurance to do so sometimes - who listens, understands and is willing to work with you to rule things out and narrow the focus, or will refer you when it's beyond his/her scope.
You're young and shouldn't be having these problems. Don't give up - but be prepared to help yourself in every way you can. One of the things I finally learned (from this forum) that no doctor told me or suspected - was that sun exposure was a culprit for me in causing flares. Making that connection was a valuable tool in management. Not a happy one, but a necessary one.
Best of luck to you in finding a good rheumy. I would ask your GP for a referral.
Lucy