Showing posts with label Test. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Test. Show all posts

Did I have Lupus as a child?

During the Lupus Star Foundation (Lupus Star Website) peer support group meeting, I mentioned that I might have had lupus long before I was diagnosed.  Throughout my childhood I had several issues that were just kind of brushed aside and not paid much attention to.  For example, as a child I used to have chest pains quite often. The doctors always said it was just a pulled muscle, because of my sports and dance and such. Ummm, maybe it was pleurisy people. Also, I was very active, but when I ran it was quite painful for my ankles and feet.  I just thought I was slow and out of shape.  


When I got a bit older, like high school and my first year of college, I would sometimes have to stop dancing because of exhaustion.  I mean I just could not finish performances sometimes.  I would faint or come really close to it.  This even got me kicked off of the marching band pommerette team.  I would run out of practice because I felt so bad and I couldn't keep up.  I thought I just sucked.  Did I have lupus back then?  I probably did, but the doctors did not catch it.  They always put the symptoms off as something else.  


As an adult something finally brought the disease all the way out. Yeah thanks!! Now that I know all the symptoms and different ways to diagnose lupus, I think that I definitely had the lupus all along.  Lying dormant within this little girl, that had no idea what lupus was. 


It is important to take any change in your health seriously.  It may seem like nothing, but it could be very serious.  You have to take control and understand what is going on with your body. If your chest is hurting, it means that something is wrong.  You need to find out what it is.  It is not normal for you to have pain for months at a time.  Get it checked, and make the doctors figure it out.  Don't just believe what they tell you!!  They are "practicing", they do not know everything.  As my fellow lupus survivor told us "you have to be your own advocate"; he is absolutely right.  Get tested and checked out when your feeling "funny", it could save your life. :0)


With Love,

QUICK FACT 9

There is no single laboratory test that can determine whether a person does or does not have lupus.  Diagnosing lupus involves analyzing the results of several lab tests that are used to monitor the immune system, along with a review of the person’s entire medical history. (LFA)

QUICK FACT 5

✔ Neonatal lupus is a rare condition that affects infants of women who have lupus and is caused by antibodies from the mother that affect the infant in the womb. With proper testing, physicians can now identify most at-risk mothers, and the infant can be treated at or  before birth. (LFA)

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