Lupus Community

Hello all, I am new here. I just wanted to post about what's going on with me. I have a PCP appointment this afternoon and unfortunately have a rheumy appointment August 10th, but hoping PCP will call to put me in more urgently once he reviews my symptoms and blood work. [br>[br>I went to the ER Thursday after a lot of odd symptoms. I've had random high fevers off and on for months now that leave me extremely weak, and just recently started experiencing pain and swelling in the joints in my hands and wrists, plus a cough I've had on and off for a while. I developed a red, spotty rash on my lower legs, I've experienced hairloss over the last year or so, swelling in the ankles and serious fatigue. The ER doc suggested I may be suffering from an autoimmune disease and ran some blood work. [br>[br>I got a call with the results Friday. High sed rate and CRNP. Negative Rheumatoid Factor but positive ANA, nucleolar pattern 1:160. Some other tests were being ran as of Friday from there, including a sjogren's panel. C3 and C4 came back normal (well, C4 borderline low). Awaiting the Anti Sm/RNP and DNA-ab ds results. I read a nucleolar pattern is often indicative of scleroderma but I don't really have any of those symptoms. I should mention a positive family history for Lupus (my aunt) and in researching, my symptoms seem to match Lupus a lot more than scleroderma.

I should also mention I am a 29 year old woman, overweight (which is what I attributed so many of my symptoms to for so long), headaches, blood pressure creeping up, edema in lower legs, some IBS-like symptoms and a history of UTI's and kidney infections - when I was pregnant in 2006 I needed to be on Keflex my entire pregnancy and have had infections since then. [br>[br>Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and ask if anyone wants to weigh in. I do have the appointments and I have heard many good things about this rheumy (I work in a hospital and he came personally recommended). Thank you for listening and having a board like this to discuss