Info about Lupus and Docs????

[yvette]

Hi All I have a a few questions about Lupus and Doctors who specialize in it:

What specialist do you have to see besides an endocrinologist?
Are there any great docs in Mass/Boston to see?
Do you have any overlapping illnesses with Lupus?
What about Fatigue -- to the point where its almost narcoleptic???
What about purplish like bruises (on the feet in particular)???
Does anyone take benadryl to help with the swelling?
What are some key points to push with a doctor in order to be diagnosed correctly?

That's all i can come up with for now...I had a better post but I lost it when I accidentally got booted offline. :(

Thanks in advance if you can help me....I've been reading and research online and I'm not getting the info I want. I keep going in circles.....so I figured I might post here and see what others have to say. Thanks again :hi:

[kelly McC]

I dont know for sure what doc's specialize in lupus but my neurologist and MD said I would have have to see a rheumatologist . My Md did A ANA blood test several actually cause many of my symptoms point to lupus they always come back normal but she did say I could still have it. Still awiting appointment with rheumatologist.

[kelly McC]

These are the symptoms from the national lupus center
Achy joints (arthralgia) 95%
Fever more than 100 degrees F (38 degrees C) 90%
Arthritis (swollen joints) 90%
Prolonged or extreme fatigue 81%
Skin Rashes 74%
Anemia 71%
Kidney Involvement 50%
Pain in the chest on deep breathing (pleurisy) 45%
Butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and
nose 42%
Sun or light sensitivity (photosensitivity) 30%
Hair loss 27%
Abnormal blood clotting problems 20%
Raynaud's phenomenon (fingers turning white
and/or blue in the cold) 17%
Seizures 15%
Mouth or nose ulcers 12%

[jrowley]

A rheumy is who you see for lupus. Lupus is a autoimmune disease like arthritus and you may have joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, rashes, headache along with mupltiple other symtoms. There is no spacific test to determine if you have lupus so doctors assume you have it after they rule out other conditions that will cause the same symptoms and that you have something like 8 of the symptoms of lupus. If untreated you could develop other complications like plurisey of the lungs and heart and kidney diffucluties.

I would suggest looking at websites about lupus.

http://www.lupus.org/
http://my.webmd.com/hw/lupus/hw123406.asp

But brusies on the feet and severe fatigue sounds more like diabetes to me, so I would suggest you have your doctor do blood work for that too.

[yvette]

Thanks for the responses....its actually not for me. But I do appreciate the responses :)