Hi all. I'm new to the forums, and new to lupus in general. I was wondering if anyone could share their thoughts on my situation. It may help to put my mind at ease.
I am a 31 year old female. Last year, shortly after I turned 30, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. After getting off the pain meds (percocet & ibuprofen) I had significant joint pain in both hands/wrists, knees, and ankles/feet. That was new to me so I went to the doctor. They did blood work for autoimmune diseases, including lupus. All bloodwork came back negative except for the ANA. I had a speckled pattern of 1:160. I was referred to a Rheumatologist. That was last July.
My joint pain came and went, but at the end of last year it got worse, and became consistent. Then muscle pain began. I was also tired all the time, but that has always been true for me. I was diagnosed with anemia and treated it successfully, which helped my fatigue a lot.
I was talking to someone who mentioned Celiac Disease, and so I returned to my doctor to see if that he could be the problem. She ran another ANA test (this time including a full lupus panel), as well as the tests for Celiac. Everything came back negative. This time my ANA came back negative, all of the test for lupus came back negative, and so did the test for celiac. The only thing that came back positive was a wheat sensitivity.
I have been off the wheat for almost two weeks now, and I feel a lot better. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that I escaped lupus. But then I suddenly presented with an odd bruise/rash thing on my right hand. Its near my knuckles and spreads a little over the hand. Its red/purple in color, doesn't itch, and hurts a little like a bruise when I touch it, although I know its not a bruise. Another one appeared on my left hand the next morning.
I don't know what to make of any of this. With a positive, then negative ANA, and all other lupus and autoimmune disease panels being negative, is there still a chance I could have Lupus? I'm specifically worried about
Lupus because a cousin of mine died from it last year, and another cousin of mine was recently diagnosed.
I'm in the process of being scheduled with a Rheumatologist. I completed paperwork with a list of my symptoms, and he was to call back to schedule me for an appointment. Instead his secretary called, and said that he wants to see the lab results of the positive ANA. I'll be sending him those, as well as the most recent ones that reflect the wheat sensitivity (and negative lupus panels), and I plan to include a photo of this new bruise-thing that appeared on my hands two days ago.
If anyone has taken the time to read this, thank you so much.
Post Edited (Anna White) : 3/15/2012 10:09:55 PM (GMT-6)