Lupus Q & A

Dr. My wife is 30 years old and has been suffering from joint pain in both elbows both medially and distally. Her range of motion in both elbows severely decresed also. Concurrent to that pain she also has pain in her left ankle on the distal portion and upon extension the pain persists on the anterior portion of the ankle. She has had multiple x-rays of the elbows and neck and ankle and all came back negative after being reviewed by two orthopedic surgeons. The initial diagnosis by the rheumatologist and Orthopedic surgeon was tendonitis in both elbows and no one seems to have an idea on her ankle. The rheumatologist prescribed celebrex 1 SID for the inflammation. This did not help. We have since visited another orthopedic dr and he gave her cortisone shots in both elbows after diagnosing tendonitis. The shots definitely imporved her range of motion in her elbows but the pain is still present. He ordered blood tests for ANA AND RA and from what we can tell the results were out of range higher than 40. She is in a tremendous amount of pain and wanted another experts opinion. She also has been on relafin 1 SID.

What is the life expectancy of women with lupus in the 1 severe case and in the 2 mild case?

If a patients anti -ds DN ANTIBODY (DOUBLE STRANDED) TEST IS NEGATIVE DOES IT MEAN THAT THE PATIENT HAS arthritis

I am a practicing internist working on educational modules for the NHLBI professional educational materials for the Heart Truth Campaign. I have read some reports that refer to statin induced Lupus. I attended a conference that Dr. Petri presented at and asked her about the association. Can you direct me to any information about the risk of statin induced Lupus, especially in the Native American or Hispanic population?

For the last four years I’ve been getting fevers almost ever month of 102.7 to 105.3. The only thing my doctor ever tells me is it is a kidney infection. But sometime’s I will get a rash on my face but it will come and go. I’ve been tested for everything except lupus. Is there a special test they do for lupus? What do they need to look for?

I have arthalgia and a positive ana as well as a postive anti-dna test. I have not been diagnosed with lupus but am wondering if the positive anti-dna means its developing. Are there other conditions with the anti-dna, and is it always significant?