Does this sound like an autoimmune disease?

[theasian]

I've been suffering with these symptoms for the past year or so:

Spinal myoclonus in my abdomen
Fasciculations in my legs
Hand tremor that sometimes spreads up my arm to my shoulders
Memory disturbances
Speech difficulties, written and oral
Joint pains but only at night
Short concentration span
Very tired no matter how much i sleep
Strange feeling that goes down my spine from the base of my skull to just past my shoulders (almost like being shocked) which causes my head to jerk to the side

I had blood tests (including ANA), MRI, EEG, EMG and a lumbar puncture which all came back normal.
My neurologist is for now just treating the myoclonus with valproic acid and lamotrigine which is sort of effective, the jerks havent stopped completely but they are considerably less than before. Clonazopam, Clobazam and Keppra were all unsuccessful at keeping the jerks under control. He mentioned that there is a possibility that I might have lupus and I would just like to get your opinion on the matter.

Thanks

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

From your description it doesn't seem like lupus, but lupus sometimes comes in different forms with overlapping symptoms.  I can only tell you from our experience that atypical lupus patients (those patients with an incomplete diagnosis of lupus) that we tested had a high rate of chronic infections.  Many of the other signs/symptoms appear in CFS patients, who are also very likely to have chronic infections of the type I have discussed before in this forum.

[jwah]

Hey I have recently been very anxious. Can extreme emotional anxiety trigger lupus?
I back of my head has started to feel numb and down my neck, face, ear. Skin feels sensitive like a burn type sensation.
I have had swelling in right shoulder, especially around collar bone and arm pit. My right arm feels swollen and sore and numb. Get fluctuations of burning sensation around chest, chin, and cheek, nose and around belly button. Also there is swelling around the left side of my back midway up. Feels awkward to sit in chair and lie down. Feel a bit nauseous some times. Been feeling fatigued, but i am on sleeping pills for insomnia. Anyway these symptoms have a all flared up   in last two to three weeks. The numbness and burning comes and goes ( seems to be mainly at night time). The back-abdominal thing has really settled in the last two weeks.
I am 24 and relatively healthy male. But have been under some pretty heavy emotional anxiety lately.
I go to doctor this friday for 12 week HIV result ( already tested negative at 10 weeks, for very low risk exposure, so thinking it is gonna be negative). Do reckon my anxiety could trigger Lupus? Considering my symptoms should i get the doc to look into lupus if HIV is negative?

[spaetten]

I feel rather confused. Ever since giving birth to my daughter 7 years ago I´ve been feeling more and more ill and I´ve been told that it´s hard becoming a parent and so forth...I have a wellbalanced life, a wonderful family, good education and so forth and no mental problems.
My symptoms: If I´m exposed to the sun I get nauseaus, extremely tired and a headache the following days and usually also sore joints.
Two years ago I had a strange circular itchy rash in my face twice.
I get very red in the butterflyarea.
My shorttermmemory is not working well, I can´t concentrate well anymore.
I have chronic headaches.
I often get very dizzy
I get mouthsores
My esophagus is sore - I can feel food going down and sometimes it gets stuck and hurts
I often have a sore throath
My digestion doesn´t work well
I have for many years suffered from numerous urininfections
I have sore wrists that get warm and hard to use
Now my legs have started to swell and get very stiff without any cause
I often feel nauseaus
I easily lose weight
I lose a lot of hair
Pain behind my chest
Extreme fatigue
I freeze constantly even when it´s warm inside and I´m wearing several sweaters
My hands and feet get extremely cold most of the time and sometimes they turn white, hurt and I can hardly use them - they hurt when they get red.
Numbness in extremities from time to time
More and more symptoms are appearing. A professor in dermatology suspected me of having lupus - an unknown illness to me - but when I read about it it matches well only I show no positive ANA so far. Doctors in Denmark seem to go by the worst case scenario so I feel lost in the system with not much help to get.
I´ve read that malariamedication can help lupus from evolving and now I fear that if I have lupus that it may become severe over time because I have no doctors to assist me.
Is there any way you can help me ior guide me? Thank you.

[kat2216]

jwah, your sypmtons sound like mine. I have buring or pinching throughout my body, boils type symptons under arm pits, cold sweats, & it all seems to get worse at night. I was tested for HIV last week, & find out my results tomorrow. I am very scard & nervous!

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

A related discussion, Lupus-like Symptoms was started.