I'm a 45 year old man and I just found out I have Lupus. The ironic thing is, I'm happy. I have been going to doctors on & off for years complaining about various ailments and they could never find anything wrong with me. My response was to stop going to doctors. Finally a doctor looked at all my symptoms, ran a blood test and found the problem. At least now I can get the correct treatment. I thought it was normal to be stiff and in pain, thinking I was just getting old. When the doctor heard all the other tell-tale sympots I had he was able to diagnose what every other doctor had missed for the past 10-15 years. Anyway, it's been 24 hours since I found out and, well, here I am. Eric.
Just found out...Yeah
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I am in a very similar position. Many drs over several years. Only I am 25 and no one believes that a 25 year old can feel like crap. I finally found a good dr who is going to treat me and cares how I am feeling. I am more calm and relaxed than I have been in a long time. I got my confirmation today. My 1st doc would run labs and give me meds and I had to go online to figure out what was going on based on the lab results and meds I was on compared to my symptoms. Congratulations and good luck. It can only go up from here!!!
Good luck to you too. Beleive me, I can totally understand how a 25 year old can fell like crap all the time. My family and friends kept giving me sh*t becuase I was always saying I didn't feel good, or I was tired, or I ached all over. They kept suggesting it was my life style, that I didn't eat right or excercise enough, that I needed to take vitamins. Finally I just stopped telling them how I felt and just pretended everything was good.
The funny thing is that my doctor discovered I had Lupus because I was seeing another physician for a chronic back problem. It's a long story, but if I hadn't hurt my back it may have been years from now before I found out.
The funny thing is that my doctor discovered I had Lupus because I was seeing another physician for a chronic back problem. It's a long story, but if I hadn't hurt my back it may have been years from now before I found out.
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'Congratulations' on your diagnosis and welcome to the Forum. You have found a great place to learn all there is to know about this disease.
I hope that you start to feel better soon. I presume you have been started on Plaquenil? If so this does take time to kick in. Its a more subtle, slow acting disease modifying drug and sometimes we need additional meds to treat symptoms in the meantime so that we can begin to feel better as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please fire away!
Luv n stuff
Joan:rose:
I hope that you start to feel better soon. I presume you have been started on Plaquenil? If so this does take time to kick in. Its a more subtle, slow acting disease modifying drug and sometimes we need additional meds to treat symptoms in the meantime so that we can begin to feel better as soon as possible.
If you have any questions please fire away!
Luv n stuff
Joan:rose:
Hello and welcome to the site
I think many here have felt and understand your "joy" at being diagnosed. Do bear in mind that there will be times that you find it a lot less joyous and that you may find emotions going up and down. I'm not trying to be a killjoy here!! :wink2:
As Joan mentioned, treatment can take a while to kick in and a while to be fine tuned. If you have any questions at any time, please don't hesitate to ask. Everyone here will do their best to help.
bye for now,
Katharine
I think many here have felt and understand your "joy" at being diagnosed. Do bear in mind that there will be times that you find it a lot less joyous and that you may find emotions going up and down. I'm not trying to be a killjoy here!! :wink2:
As Joan mentioned, treatment can take a while to kick in and a while to be fine tuned. If you have any questions at any time, please don't hesitate to ask. Everyone here will do their best to help.
bye for now,
Katharine
Thank You Katharine & Joan for your support. It's really just starting to sink in. I haven't been started on any meds yet, I have more doctor appointments in the near future. I literally just found out yesterday. I have so many symptoms that the physiatrist that diagnosed me couldn't beleive that no other doctor had run the test before. I was starting to think it was my imagination and that I didn't really feel as crappy as I did. I will surely be a regular on the site.
Hi Eric, from a girl originally from Lowell Mass.
Welcome to the board. Glad you found a good place to hang out.
Sorry about your dx but now you can get on with meds and feeling better.
A good book I highly recommend is The Lupus Book by Dr. Daniel Wallace.
Written in layman terms and so very helpful, especially when your just diagnosed.
Barnes and Noble has it or you can get it off Amazon.
Nice to meet you and come join us in the chat room sometime.:wink2:
Welcome to the board. Glad you found a good place to hang out.
Sorry about your dx but now you can get on with meds and feeling better.
A good book I highly recommend is The Lupus Book by Dr. Daniel Wallace.
Written in layman terms and so very helpful, especially when your just diagnosed.
Barnes and Noble has it or you can get it off Amazon.
Nice to meet you and come join us in the chat room sometime.:wink2:
Hello Eric,
Welcome here, I am very glad you have been diagnosed. Now, sorry to fuss you ,but even though you welcome the diagnosis you may well find your emotions will be all over the place for a while. Just wanted to warn you of that and I wish you all the best with your treatment. I hope soon you will feel better than you have for years.
x lola
Welcome here, I am very glad you have been diagnosed. Now, sorry to fuss you ,but even though you welcome the diagnosis you may well find your emotions will be all over the place for a while. Just wanted to warn you of that and I wish you all the best with your treatment. I hope soon you will feel better than you have for years.
x lola
Hello Eric,
Welcome to the site. I'm glad you found this forum, you will find lots of support here.
I can relate to your story. I too felt like crap for many years and had all but given up on finding out why I felt so bad. I too, was releived to finally hear the doctor say it was lupus. I had what one doctor called the "million dollar work up" and nothing was showing up abnormal, so he said he wanted to check my ANA, since it was about the only test I had never had. It came back positive and other tests confirmed that I had SLE. I just wish somebody would have listened to all my symptoms sooner.
Take good care of yourself and rest when you need to. Anytime you need to ask a question or just vent, we are all here for you.
Wishing you well,
Mary
Welcome to the site. I'm glad you found this forum, you will find lots of support here.
I can relate to your story. I too felt like crap for many years and had all but given up on finding out why I felt so bad. I too, was releived to finally hear the doctor say it was lupus. I had what one doctor called the "million dollar work up" and nothing was showing up abnormal, so he said he wanted to check my ANA, since it was about the only test I had never had. It came back positive and other tests confirmed that I had SLE. I just wish somebody would have listened to all my symptoms sooner.
Take good care of yourself and rest when you need to. Anytime you need to ask a question or just vent, we are all here for you.
Wishing you well,
Mary
Hi Lola, ya, the roller coaster of emotions started today. The first day I was kind of numb, even joking about it.
I thought to myself that finally people will believe me when I tell them I feel like crap all the time. But today has been depressing (on & off). The more I read & learn, the more I realize that this is a serious illness. I plan on skipping the angry phase, serves no purpose. When other people would say "why me" I would always say "why not me?" Life happens to all of us and nobody's immune, no pun intended. I've been through some pretty rough stuff in my life.
I thought to myself that finally people will believe me when I tell them I feel like crap all the time. But today has been depressing (on & off). The more I read & learn, the more I realize that this is a serious illness. I plan on skipping the angry phase, serves no purpose. When other people would say "why me" I would always say "why not me?" Life happens to all of us and nobody's immune, no pun intended. I've been through some pretty rough stuff in my life.
Hello again Eric,
Taking one day at a time is key in this disease. A good attitude is also very important and it sounds like you are already armed with that.
Also, although the disease is serious, you need to remember that the people here on these boards are not necessarily representative of the general lupus population. For some people, once treatment kicks in, they never have time to come here again. They're too busy getting on with life. The people here tend to be the "newly diagnosed" like yourself, the "not yet diagnosed" and the rarer more severely affected people.
Anyway, keep smiling, you know what they say about the best medecine!!
Katharine
Taking one day at a time is key in this disease. A good attitude is also very important and it sounds like you are already armed with that.
Also, although the disease is serious, you need to remember that the people here on these boards are not necessarily representative of the general lupus population. For some people, once treatment kicks in, they never have time to come here again. They're too busy getting on with life. The people here tend to be the "newly diagnosed" like yourself, the "not yet diagnosed" and the rarer more severely affected people.
Anyway, keep smiling, you know what they say about the best medecine!!
Katharine
Hi Katharine, I try to always live with a positive attitude, I been practicing one-day-at-a-time for many years. I look forward to getting on meds and hopefully feeling better. I've been experiencing kidney pain on and off for several years and my doctor suspects it may have to do with all of this. As far as sticking around, I'm pretty good at that too. I learned many years ago to freely give back that which was freely given to me. If nobody stuck around then there wouldn't be anybody to help the new comers, just like you are now all helping me. Thanks, Eric.
p.s I find it very cool that the people on this forum are from all over the world.
p.s I find it very cool that the people on this forum are from all over the world.
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