Lupus often misdiagnosed as MS or rheumatoid arthritis

A woman was horrified when she was diagnosed with lupus after suffering from a sore wrist followed closely by swollen joints. Her initial sore wrist was misdiagnosed as repetitive strain injury. It took four months for a correct diagnosis and she was given no information on her condition when she was diagnosed by the rheumatologist. Nevertheless she was able to continue a relatively normal life and even have her own family. Patients can suffer from discoid (affects mostly skin) or systemic or erythematosus lupus (affects whole body). Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack it's own immune system which often results in extreme fatigue. Other symptoms include joint pain, muscle aches, anemia and general malaise. The most common age is between puberty and menopause. The cause is unknown and symptoms can disappear during pregnancy or improve after menopause thus the condition is believed to possibly be hormonal. 90% of the 30,000 UK lupus sufferers are female. Lupus is frequently misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Diagnosis is made more difficult by the lack of a single definitive test.

Source: summary of medical news story as reported by The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Related Disease Topics:

• Autoimmune disease
• Lupus
• Discoid lupus
• Systemic lupus
• Erythematosus
• Puberty
• Menopause
• Multiple sclerosis
• Repetitive strain injury
• Rheumatoid arthritis

Related Symptom Topics:

• Swollen joints
• Sore wrist
• Extreme fatigue
• Muscle ache
• Joint pain
• Anemia
• General malaise

Article Source Details

About: Lupus often misdiagnosed as MS or rheumatoid arthritis

Date: 22 February 2005

Source: The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

URL: http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0330features/tm_objectid=15219383&method=full&siteid=50060&headline=a-mum-s-agony--name_page.html

Related Medical Topics

This summary article refers to the following medical categories:

• Statistics
• Diagnosis
• Misdiagnosis (type of Medical misadventure)
• Cause of lupus
• Cause of discoid lupus
• Cause of systemic lupus
• Cause of erythematosus
• Diagnosis and swollen joints
• Diagnosis and sore wrist
• Diagnosis and extreme fatigue
• Diagnosis and muscle ache
• Diagnosis and joint pain
• Diagnosis and anemia
• Diagnosis and general malaise
• Diagnosis and autoimmune disease
• Diagnosis and lupus
• Diagnosis and discoid lupus
• Diagnosis and systemic lupus
• Diagnosis and erythematosus
• Diagnosis and puberty
• Diagnosis and menopause
• Diagnosis and multiple sclerosis
• Diagnosis and repetitive strain injury
• Diagnosis and rheumatoid arthritis
• Misdiagnosis and swollen joints
• Misdiagnosis and sore wrist
• Misdiagnosis and extreme fatigue
• Misdiagnosis and muscle ache
• Misdiagnosis and joint pain
• Misdiagnosis and anemia
• Misdiagnosis and general malaise
• Misdiagnosis and autoimmune disease
• Misdiagnosis and lupus
• Misdiagnosis and discoid lupus
• Misdiagnosis and systemic lupus
• Misdiagnosis and erythematosus
• Misdiagnosis and puberty
• Misdiagnosis and menopause
• Misdiagnosis and multiple sclerosis
• Misdiagnosis and repetitive strain injury
• Misdiagnosis and rheumatoid arthritis

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