Welcome to the forum Felicity 
Sorry, but do you think you have lupus so are you looking for a rheumatologist who specialises in lupus and similar connective tissue diseases?
I don't know about Brighton area but there are several in London, the best known at the NHS St Thomas' London Lupus Unit, or privately an even larger gathering of the great and the good at the London Lupus Centre.
When lupus is suspected the usual thing is to get the GP to run a full blood count, urine test and an ANA test. It's a good idea to have a look at the ACR Criteria list and the St Thomas' Criteria to see if there's anything in your health history or current symptoms that 'match'.
Hypermobility appears to be sometimes linked to autoimmune connective tissue diseases like lupus. There's an article about it pinned at the top of the Paediatrics Section. The inflammation referred to in talking of lupus is systemic inflammation caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking
the body's own protein ( cells) as if they were the disease bearing cells of bacteria or viruses.
There might not be any signs of joint inflammation either obvious or by imaging in joints affected by lupus, which also are not typically damaged.
All the best
Clare
Sorry, but do you think you have lupus so are you looking for a rheumatologist who specialises in lupus and similar connective tissue diseases?
I don't know about Brighton area but there are several in London, the best known at the NHS St Thomas' London Lupus Unit, or privately an even larger gathering of the great and the good at the London Lupus Centre.
When lupus is suspected the usual thing is to get the GP to run a full blood count, urine test and an ANA test. It's a good idea to have a look at the ACR Criteria list and the St Thomas' Criteria to see if there's anything in your health history or current symptoms that 'match'.
Hypermobility appears to be sometimes linked to autoimmune connective tissue diseases like lupus. There's an article about it pinned at the top of the Paediatrics Section. The inflammation referred to in talking of lupus is systemic inflammation caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking
the body's own protein ( cells) as if they were the disease bearing cells of bacteria or viruses.
There might not be any signs of joint inflammation either obvious or by imaging in joints affected by lupus, which also are not typically damaged.
All the best
Clare
