auto immune diseases

[ElinElin]

Just wondering if anyone's dc has an auto immune disease and if so how are the doing and how was it diagnosed? My dd has been unwell for about a month. She had feve. For 3 weeks, tummy pain and nausea on and off. Pain in knees, rash on face, tired..... She was admitted to hospital last week and stayed for 3 days. Doctors did all sorts of tests on her. Scan of tummy, chest xray, blood test. So far it has not really showed up with anything abnormal. Most of the blood test results checking for auto immune are still pending and we are going back for an appointment next week. Doctors have mentioned it could be lupus or juvenile arthritis. I am quite worried.

I do feel for you. My sister has Lupus...she's been diagnosed since she was in her early twenties but it's thought that she had it before then. She's 50 now and doing very well indeed. The medication that she has is so good...she has some arthritis but she has a part time job, children, a husband...she's always out and about at gigs and parties...she leads a normal life. Whilst her medications were being adjusted she still had flare ups...which meant joint pain and tiredness but now the medication is balanced she never does.

How old is your DD?
I had an auto-immune illness (never diagnosed what exactly it was) when I was 16/17. I was crippled with arthritis (joints, knees+fingers) - could barely get in and out of car and my lower legs were covered with round, red marks (under the skin). I had referrals to specialists - all they ascertained was that it wasn't rheumatoid arthritis but I was put on naproxyn as a treatment. It (whatever it was) seemed to go a few months later - I don't remember missing much school apart from a few weeks. My mum wondered years later if it was lupus (partly due to the odd marks on my legs).

As an adult I have had Graves Disease (another auto-immune disease) and an over-active thyroid.

Other than this I am healthy! Hoping you get some answers from your doctors and your DD gets better soon.