I have not been diagnosed with Lupus but I have lots of reasons to suspect that it may be what I have. To begin my mother and grandmother both passed away from SLE in their 30's. I am 26, and at one point was an extremely active young man with lots of energy. I even served 8 years in the Air Force. Anyhow, this past year I have been getting sick a lot more often, have periods that last weeks where I have no energy and recently began having more severe symptoms. About 6 months ago I got diagnosed with Gout due to high uric acid levels. They treated the gout and ran a liver function test which came back normal. 2 weeks ago during an annual check up my triglycerides where through the roof, the machine actually stopped counting at 500 but my cholesterol was fine. The doctors ordered another liver function test and this time it came back with extremely elevated ALT levels (ie not working). I also got diagnosed with extremely high blood pressure running 190/115 when I'm not on meds and 170/100 even when I am on the meds now. Just last week I found out that my kidneys are also beginning to shut down. They've ran a ton of blood tests, most of which had to be sent to the Mayo Clinic and I'm still awaiting results. They also had me do a 24hr urine collection and that was also sent to the Mayo Clinic. I've been nauseous, dizzy and as of recently been getting more frequent and sever headaches. The doctors tell me they have no idea why such a young man would be having such issues but with my family history I'm starting to fear the worst. Can anyone tell me if I should be worried about Lupus at this point and if so how can I push the doctors for a diagnosis? It took my mom 5 years to get diagnosed and when she did it was only 6 months till she passed away, I don't want to wait that long to find out what's going on. Thanks for any help.
Need Some Advice
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Hi Marty
Welcome to the Forum but I'm sorry you are so unwell at the moment. Im very sorry also to hear about your Mother and grandmother passing away so young from Lupus.
It certainly does sound like there could be something autoimmune causing your symptoms. Have you told the doctors about your family history? Although Lupus is not known as a genetic disease, having a parent or sibling with the disease does increase ones chances of having the disease by about 10%.
I suggest that you start by finding out what type of blood tests were run. Hopefully you will be getting the results soon and perhaps you can get a copy of them? If your doctor suspects something autoimmune, they will have run an Anti Nuclear Antibody test as a starter. If this is positive in significant titres usually the next step is a referral to a Rheumatologist who can carry out more specific blood tests.
What is happening with regard to your failing kidneys? Have you been referred to a Nephrologist? I do hope that these problems with your major organs are being taken very seriously?
There are a vast number of autoimmune problems and while Lupus can affect the Liver, another possibility could be autoimmune hepatitis and a blood test called anti smooth muscle antibody would be used to help diagnose this condition along with clinical presentations and other blood work. Your high triglycerides could also be caused by a condition known as Fatty Liver but in any event this is all a bit of speculation here and not based on any medical expertise.
If you have not mentioned Lupus as a possibility to your doctor before now I suggest that you make an appointment and ask for investigations as to a systemic or autoimmune cause of your current symptoms. While it may not be Lupus, it is very important to establish if there is an underlying single cause contributing to your health problems.
Given your current presentations, i.e. liver and kidney problems. I would be pushing very hard for investigations into a systemic cause. You have every reason to be concerned and hopefully you have a good doctor who will listen to your concerns and help you to find out what is going on.
Please let us know if we can be of any further help and how you get on.
Take good care and best of luck
Joan:rose:
Welcome to the Forum but I'm sorry you are so unwell at the moment. Im very sorry also to hear about your Mother and grandmother passing away so young from Lupus.
It certainly does sound like there could be something autoimmune causing your symptoms. Have you told the doctors about your family history? Although Lupus is not known as a genetic disease, having a parent or sibling with the disease does increase ones chances of having the disease by about 10%.
I suggest that you start by finding out what type of blood tests were run. Hopefully you will be getting the results soon and perhaps you can get a copy of them? If your doctor suspects something autoimmune, they will have run an Anti Nuclear Antibody test as a starter. If this is positive in significant titres usually the next step is a referral to a Rheumatologist who can carry out more specific blood tests.
What is happening with regard to your failing kidneys? Have you been referred to a Nephrologist? I do hope that these problems with your major organs are being taken very seriously?
There are a vast number of autoimmune problems and while Lupus can affect the Liver, another possibility could be autoimmune hepatitis and a blood test called anti smooth muscle antibody would be used to help diagnose this condition along with clinical presentations and other blood work. Your high triglycerides could also be caused by a condition known as Fatty Liver but in any event this is all a bit of speculation here and not based on any medical expertise.
If you have not mentioned Lupus as a possibility to your doctor before now I suggest that you make an appointment and ask for investigations as to a systemic or autoimmune cause of your current symptoms. While it may not be Lupus, it is very important to establish if there is an underlying single cause contributing to your health problems.
Given your current presentations, i.e. liver and kidney problems. I would be pushing very hard for investigations into a systemic cause. You have every reason to be concerned and hopefully you have a good doctor who will listen to your concerns and help you to find out what is going on.
Please let us know if we can be of any further help and how you get on.
Take good care and best of luck
Joan:rose:
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