Am I crasy?

[sara_bioquimica]

Hi! I have been strugling with some weard simptoms for some years, but now they are getting worse. I searched the internet for the simptoms and they mach lupus simptoms. When I was 15 I started to have this weard rash on my face, but the doctor said it was acne and he prescribed me skin products. He also adviced me to use sunscreen everyday because my skin is very fair. So I did, and the rash slowly disapered. But now, when the sun is very hot my skin still gets red and swollen, I feel my face all blown up! Somedays I wake up so tired I can barely get up, I feel like I have no strength on my muscles. My elbows and knees get all painfull and the a mimimum exercise can make me get shorteness of breath and pain in my lungs and heart. Also my blood presure rises a little...My skin gets red like a net of lines, but not raised, even in the areas not exposed to sunlight, and in burns like a sunburn, expecially on my chest... But the worse is really the tiredness! Today I have been sleeping awake all day long. I feel dizzy, like I am going to colapse any minute.
People don't believe me, they say I am overreacting, that this is all due to stress. My boyfriend says I am hypocondriac, that I am always complaining that I am sick. My skin rash is not very obvious because I use a 60 factor sun screen, but I do get red on my cheeks and nose... so tomorrow I won't put on my sunscreen. I want to know what will happen.
Am I crasy or do you think I could have lupus? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif
Thank you for your advice! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Thanx.gif

[halfpintfl]

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wavey.gif Hi Sara, and a very warm welcome to you and to this site. You
have not given us enough symptoms for us to even hazzard a guess. If
you go out in the sun tomorrow, I am sure that you will get a red cheek
and red nose, and I am sure that everyone else that goes out tomorrow
will get the same. You need to give us more info about yourself, like: your
age, all your symptoms, what dr's have you been to, what meds, you
get the idea. I don't want to just brush you off, because we are all here to
support,you and help you in any way that we can. So, if you can help us with
more info, we will be very glad to do our best to help answer some of
your questions at least. I wish that I could do more.


Be well and keep posting. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[sara_bioquimica]

[quote name='halfpintfl' date='Jun 15 2006, 11:51 PM' post='211096']
style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wavey.gif Hi Sara, and a very warm welcome to you and to this site. You
have not given us enough symptoms for us to even hazzard a guess. If
you go out in the sun tomorrow, I am sure that you will get a red cheek
and red nose, and I am sure that everyone else that goes out tomorrow
will get the same. You need to give us more info about yourself, like: your
age, all your symptoms, what dr's have you been to, what meds, you
get the idea. I don't want to just brush you off, because we are all here to
support,you and help you in any way that we can. So, if you can help us with
more info, we will be very glad to do our best to help answer some of
your questions at least. I wish that I could do more.


Hi! I know I will get red, what I want to know is if I will get the same rash I used to have. I am 21 now. I have am appointment with a alergologist next month, but I have only been to a regular doctor so far. She didn't know how to evaluate my simptoms and asked me if I was pregnant (which I am not) to explain the constant fatige. The simptoms are what I said, plus my eye lids get slowllen and my site gets affected, my vision gets blurry and my eyes get ichy and hurt. I get this flaky dandruff, even though I use a special shampoo for that, and my skalp hurts .My kneens get slowllen too and painfull. I am red in the face even before I go out, when I wake up in the morning and sometimes my face feels really hot for no reason... my head feels blurry and I have a hard time concentrating, like there is a cloud in my brain. Sometimes my legs get blown up from one day to the next and my trousers get sudenly small for me...
Any questions?

I found a picture similar to what I get :
http://www3.dermis.net/dermisroot/en/1196331/image.htm

see the one with the rash in around the eyes? I used to have something like that, but on my cheeks... i also get all these little spots on my skin (like the girl), that are not like acne, which I sometimes have too. Also I forgot to mention: my mouth gets all painfull and slowllen, especilly in the roof, and my lips get red and big too.

[Clare.T]

Welcome to the forum sara

The trouble is that lupus symptoms resemble those of many other diseases and vice versa.
Many of the signs that are used to diagnose lupus are lab tests. The first one done is called the ANA test- it's a screening test and isn't specially for lupus, but if it is higher than normal further tests are done for other antibodies.

Results from a full blood count can provide important clues. Your GP or PCP can do the ANA and full blood count. A dermatologist might be helpful with the rash. Most of us see rheumatologsts so if you think you have lupus and there is no other obvious reason for your symptoms, ask your GP to refer you to one.

I don't know if your rash is lupus related or not. It isn't typical though if it looks like those pictures - see Symptoms section pinned notice . However the pictures you link to are not of lupus skin despite the name. The term 'lupus' was given to several skin conditions and has stuck even though it is now known that they are not caused by lupus

I hope you get some answers soon

Clare