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"Drug Induced" Lupus

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Posted 5/13/2014 2:50 AM (GMT 0)
Has anyone experienced drug induced Lupus before? I was on Remicade for about a year and things were going really well - I felt the best (both physically and mentally) I'd ever felt before. Then I got mono (a known lupus trigger) last summer and started experiencing all of these Lupus like symptoms (very swollen and painful joints, severe pleurisy, fatigue and myocarditis). It's been almost two months since I stopped taking Remicade, but my symptoms are only getting worse - I have to take prednisone every day to try and keep the swelling in my heart and lungs under control. Everything I read online says drug induced lupus usually goes away within a couple weeks of stopping the medication, so I'm starting to get really nervous that this is actual Lupus and not just drug induced Lupus. Has anyone been through this before??? Any advice?
Posted 5/14/2014 4:02 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear of your symptoms on top of the CD. With immune suppressants, these types of symptoms can crop up; of course drug induced lupus is something to consider. The best bet is to call your doctor and get some testing done.

While on certain medications, I developed symptoms that fell into that range and was tested for lupus and RA. Initially they did an ANA which was positive but the RA factor test and lupus test were both negative.

What happened with me is I started a flare after a 1.5 yr. surgical remission, and almost all my joints swelled at the same time, even in my jaws which caused red patches on my face that sort of looked like the butterfly rash one gets with lupus. That's why the RA and lupus tests. Though I had intestinal symptoms, they weren't that bad. I was pretty sure it was Crohn's arthritis, but my doctor wanted to make sure.
Posted 5/15/2014 2:45 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,

Sorry to hear about the Lupus.  When it happened to me it affected my joints.  It started on one side of my body and the next day it would jump to the other.  Extremely painful - my rheumy put me on 25 mg prednisone and methotrexate.  It took a year before my ANA, etc. was negative again.  I couldn't get in and out of the bathtub, stairs, pouring water into coffee maker - all were a painful challenge.  If you aren't any better, I would be seeing your rheumy ASAP.

All the best,

Julia

 

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