I did forget to mention, that I too have fibro, with my lupus, I also have raynauds, neuropathy, deteriorating disc disease in over half my spine, I have osteoarthritis in my left hip and knee, daily muscle cramps and spasms GERD, IC of the bladder, anemia, photo sensitivity to sun and ultra violet lighting, I have had retina bleeding in my left eye and loss of vision caused by permanent damage to the blood vessels in my left eye. If I get stressed I loose my vision, have even gone blind for a few minutes. I am fatigue all the time, get daily chronic headaches and migraines. I have loss of memory, and I get ill all the time. I have had pleurisy, vertigo, kidney infections/stones, Asthma, COPD, nodules in my lungs, you name it these are a factor in my life.
21tulips, I was diagnosed with lupus 10 years ago. My ANA and skin factor came back positive. I have been on steroids, plaquinel and many other medications to help. The fact is, if your on medications such as these, the ANA factor will come back normal. Even on steroids. It takes about 12 months for the tests to come back showing an ANA factor of lupus, or other auto immune disorders, once off the medications. I was told, once you have a positive ANA, you have lupus, even if the test comes back negative for years and years. Lupus is a disposition geno that we carry, this does not mean you will give your child lupus, it just gives him a higher rate of developing this and other auto immune disorders. My eldest son has raynauds and IBS. Both are auto immune disorders. If he mates with another that carries the disposition geno of lupus, more than likely their child will develop lupus. Research is showing more clearly now than ever, that doctors can not go by just test results and that family history is a big factor for all auto immune diseases. I am actually having my children tested by a genetics dr, to see if they all carry the dis positional geno's.