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My grandmother had Lupus and her sister had Rheumatoid Arthritis. I began having blood in my urine about five years ago and approximately the same time my shoulder began hurting. This is when I remember my legs starting to throb with pain. About a year later I began having pain in my right knee and now most recently I have pain in my left knee and right elbow as well as pain sometimes in my left middle finger. My worst pain is the muscle pain and then when my knee joints hurt I can barely walk. I have A LOT of fatigue, last night I almost fell asleep driving on the way home from work. My ability to concentrate is becoming difficult and I have been making a lot of mistakes at work recently from foginess and fatigue. Sometimes I have a sharp shooting pain in my chest and it hurts to breath for a second. But then it goes away. Recently I have a purple blue veinish dot on my finger that hasn't gone away. It reminds me of a blood blister but it never forms into a blister. I went to a Rheumatologist who said that he thought I had Fibromyalgia. I have a negative ANA, my xrays show no joint destruction. I accepted this until a few weeks ago when my right knee became so very painful and swelled up bright red like a softball and I had dificulty walking. I fell down when I was bending down to my filing cabinet. I went to the Rheumie and he said that there was definitely fluid and took a sample; however, the nurse took so long to schedule an appointment that most of the inflammation had subsided. He looked at me and told me it wasn't mechanical and because a lot of the swelling had gone down that the test might come back non inflammatory and we would just get another sample when it became inflammed again right away. The Rheumie was supposed to call me back two days later and never did. After a week, today, I called and talked to his nurse who has no bedside manner whatsoever and she said the fluid was non inflammatory and that the doc says that it is a mechanical issue or I have mild osteoarthritis (I'm 28). So they ordered a MRI. I'm so frustrated! I feel like I should get a second opinion. Just the doctor not calling me back alone really peeves me!! And it's the second time. I know Lupus can take years to diagnos but I feel in my heart of hearts that that is what is wrong with me. I go on living in chronic pain every day with no answers, just more tests. Simultaneously, I am afraid anyone close to me thinks I am just complaining or am a hypochondriac because noone can tell me what's wrong with me. Just sad, I wish I knew why I have to suffer so much. I know there's people who have had way worse circumstances than me but I just feel completely sad and hopeless, it's hard to live. |
