Category Archives: Symptoms

Invisible Illnesses

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I’ve installed a new poll widget on the sidebar, because I thought it would be nice way for people to chime in on subjects without having to make a comment. I really like getting comments, but I know that I don’t always feel like leaving them. I’m pretty good about participating in a simple poll, as long as I don’t have to fill anything out.

For the first poll, I wanted to get some feedback on a subject that comes up often in Lupus discussion groups, and is something I’ve dealt with recently. Lupus and the pain-in-the-butt suite of illnesses, syndromes, and phenomenons that usually go along with lupus are not always easily seen. Most of the problems that my wife has are fairly invisible. This latest problem with her hands was certainly an exception, but usually, other than skin reactions related to her photo-sensitivity, Jenny doesn’t usually look sick.

The only problem with not looking sick is that many people who are not familiar with lupus or other potentially invisible illnesses will often have trouble taking the illness seriously.

I’m just curious how many of you out there with lupus, or whose loved one has lupus, have symptoms related to your lupus that are easily visible and how many have a somewhat invisible illness.

You are still free to make comments as well. I do appreciate them. Also, if you do happen to see an advertisement that interests you, please click it and check it out. It doesn’t cost you anything to do so, and the few pennies I receive do add up and help a lot when my web hosting bills come due.

Skin Reactions

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Recently, my wife has developed dry skin on her hands along with small round lesions that are extremely painful. It seems to be related to sun exposure and stress, but really we have no clue what’s causing it. This is probably the third time in the last year that this has happened but this is certainly the most severe occurrence.

It’s very frustrating when your specialist is two hundred miles away and doesn’t always respond to phone calls.

It looks like a chemical burn, but she hasn’t handled any chemicals.

Food Allergies

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I’ve heard that it’s fairly common for lupus patients to have a lot of food allergies. I know my wife has a bunch of them. It’s not a huge deal, but it is one of those things that we have to always be aware of when we are out to eat. You would be surprised how many things have nuts in them, especially desserts. Getting a salad is also usually an adventure. Shredded carrots are evil.

Here’s the list to the best of my knowledge:

  • NUTS except peanuts but I think they are actually a legume so they don’t count
  • RAW VEGETABLES lettuce seems to be safe but raw carrots are bad news
  • AVOCADOS no guacamole for you dear
  • MELONS this one makes me very sad because I love melons
  • KIWIS strawberries are fine, so what’s wrong with these guys?

I’m probably forgetting some of them, but that’s most of them. We try and avoid them as best we can, but I don’t want to remove them entirely from the house because of the kids. Jenny will occasionally take allergy medicine if she really wants something, but that’s not usually a good idea. Does anyone else out there deal with this?

Strange Pains

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A few days ago my wife started noticing a sharp pain in her right foot on the side of her heel. At first she thought she might have stepped on something but it didn’t appear to be the case.

The pain spread up her entire right side, and is a kind of stiff pain, like an arthritis kind of pain, according to her.

She’s taking some extra muscle relaxers but she’s had a hard time moving around and getting up and down the stairs.

She’s had these symptoms before and they tend to go away in a week or so.

Has anyone else had this happen?