[dworth24]

hello all, my wife was just recently diagnosed with lupus. she is 43 and we live in new jersey. we have 3 children. my wife lisa, back in march started experiencing symptoms of fatigue, headaches, tingling in one side of her face and down her arm. she had always been a sun worshipper and up until 2 years ago went to tanning salons. she is 43. last summer she started getting ill when she went in the sun. she had chest pains and was taken to the hospital on a few occasions. she ended up with the "mask" rash on her face once as well. the doctors did tests, some said pleurisy others said nothing wrong. we now feel it was the beginning of lupus starting to show. when her symptoms started in march, she saw a new neurologist. a mri of the brain detected lesions. he sent us to a MS specialist who examined my wife. he said it wsnt Ms but for our neurologist to look into lupus and that we needed a mri of brain w/ contrast. since then we have been to many different specialists for all kinds of symptoms that are flaring up. kidney doctor for blood in the urine, pulmonary doctor for a chronic cough which may well be emphyzema (she had smoked for 20 years b4 quitting 4 years ago) , an eye doctor for blurry vision, cardiologist for chest pains, rheumotologist who currently has her on prednisone 50 mg per day (starting to ween her off) and plaquenil. her recent mri of brain w/ contrast alludes to the lupus being in her brain. we are scheduled to see her rheumotologist and neurologist this week. rheumotologist last time we saw her stated that she may admit my wife to hospital for treatment intravenously. we feel that she may do that this week as the lupus seems to be overtaking the current meds she is taking. she has a rash all over her body which a dermatologist biopsied on saturday. as you can see, we feel that the lupus is pretty well progressed at this point. we came across this message board and i decided to post. we welcome any advice, questions, thoughts or just words of encouragement that you may have. we realize we are in a real battle here, but if i know my wife, she isnt going to give into this. look forward to hearing from anyone. don:sad:

 

[dworth24]

thank you all for writing, support and words of encouragement. i will be sure to get my wife to read them all and join the group. the words of encouragement should do her wonders. i appreciate your encouraging words of my support. i do it for a wonderful woman whom i love dearly and one that i owe everything to. she has been a great friend, wife and mother and i intend on seeing this through with her, side by side, for the rest of our lives. i refuse to let this control us or change the plans we have made for the future. again, thanks to all of you. don