Lupus attacks your organs?

hi renee,
i'm suzanne, with me the lupus attacked/attacks my kidneys. basically, it goes into my kidney and does damage to the tissue so that the kidneys dont function correctly. that was actually how they were able to diagnose me quickly, sometimes it takes years for a person to get diagnosed with lupus even though they have the symptoms. the lupus had attacked my kidneys so bad that last year i had a kidney transplant and this year the lupus actually attacked the new kidney too. hope this helped a little in answering your question, but dont worry i'm sure someone else will be able to explain it even better than me.

Hi, Renee. My lungs are involved with my lupus. A pulmonologist was the doc that actually helped me get the lupus diagnosis. He is like the #1 doc in the world to me! He is the only one that listened to me through all of that. I had pleural effusion in the pleural membrane surrounding my left lung. It actually filled 3/4's of the way up and had partially collapsed my lung before they found it. I had a really bad fall where I landed just below my left rib cage and that's the trauma that set it off filling up really fast. (I also had a fractured rib that probably contributed to some pain.) I know I was having some lung involvement before the fall actually happened though. I just have no proof because I had a really stupid PCP at the time who would not listen to me and do a simple chest x-ray. You didn't go into any detail about why you're thinking you might have lung involvement. The first things I noticed (well before my fall) were pains in my left lower abdomen, as well as what felt like a "kitty purring" feeling in my lung. (Kinda like when you're just starting to get sick with a bad cold.) The more and more it filled up these pains became excruciating, not only in my abdomen but also stabbing pains in my back directly behind where I was hurting in the front. I could not lay on either side in the bed without being stabbed. I eventually could not lay flat at all. I would try to prop myself up on like 4 to 6 pillows and sleep. Not at all comfortable. I really got no rest during this time. Then when I would stand up so much pain would come rushing back that I would nearly fall. I couldn't cough, sneeze, or even yawn without pain. Even after they drained the effusion from my lung, I got bad pleurisy pains in the right lung making me think it was starting all over again in the other lung. That's when they started me on prednisone. Even now a year and a half after the pleural effusion, as I taper the prednisone I can still feel a "tight grab" in the lower part of my left lung if I breath too deep. I can show you exactly where the bottom of my left lung is without an x-ray or anything. You're not supposed to know your body that well! Let me tell you, this was the most painful and scariest time of my life! I was also having "heart attack" feeling type pains in my chest at this time. Even after having gone to an ER, they just said everything tested normal! My PCP wouldn't listen. ER's couldn't find anything. I really thought I was going to die feeling the way I was and nobody even know why! I don't want to scare you, but I would definitely discuss any lung problems with my rheumy and have that looked at. I think I will forever have problems with mine because it was ignored and stayed filled for so long. Hope this answers some of your ?'s. Go over anything you're feeling if you reply. I'm just trying to remember these things off the top of my head. I might have forgot some stuff. Take care,

Thank you so much for you replies. It is hard to make people understand how we feel when we look fine on the outside. My husband doesn't understand or know how to deal with my health problems. It is good to hear from others going through the same things.