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How do you know the difference between a MS flare and a Lupus flare?
I have both MS and lupus and I go to a neurologist for my ms. He is the one who also discovered that I also have lupus. But we never discuss the lupus so I am wondering if it is dormant or something. I have been having back to back UTI"s which in turn causes a ms flare for me every freaking time. Looks like an urologist is the next specialist on my list of docs. Sorry, i'm getting off subject here. But I've looked up the symptoms for lupus flare and ms flares and they both have a lot of similar symptoms. So I ask the nurse and she said it was hard to tell the difference. Gee thanks for the help. I've been having some kind of flare for 6 months now. Fevers, dbl vision, stumbling around like a drunk, awful joint pain in my back, hips (just a lil) and terrible amount in both knees and one has been replaced. I never knew an artificial joint could hurt so bad. Brain fog galore. I do really weird things mostly at night during sleep but sometimes in the day I think it may be dementia. I've got up in the morn and found all the coffee cups in the garbage can. One night I woke up and found myself with a pair of kitchen shears trying to cut butcher knifes apart at the handle. Once night my dad watched me as I walked around the house using my moms walker then ramming it into the wall - back and forth - really hard then stopping suddenly and stood staring at the wall for about 20 minutes. Finally my dad ask me what I was doing and I remember saying I don't know and I sat down and went to sleep. It is something new, weird and creepy every day. Sorry strayed from the subject again. Does anyone think I should be seeing a rheumatologist also and does anyone have any idea how to tell the difference between ms and lupus flares. Sure would appreciate any opinions you have to share.
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Hello @lilgrizz -- I think both share some similar/common symptoms. Mayo Clinic website has a good overview of the symptoms of both MS and Lupus. Here are the links:
Multiple sclerosis Symptoms:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/multiple-sclerosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350269
Lupus Symptoms:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lupus/symptoms-causes/syc-20365789
I'm hoping some other members with more knowledge or experience with the symptoms can provide more information.
John
@lilgrizz Hi, grizz. Gee, my wife just calls that normal sleep walking for me...Well, no, I guess not. Since Lupus and MS have roots in the same cause (mis-folded and deposited protein in the body) I guess it would be normal under the circumstances to have a tough time telling the flares apart. My little sister has Lupus, another has Multiple Myeloma (last stages) and her daughter has MS, and I have hATTRwt and my oldest sister has the same, and another sister has died of hATTRwt, and so has her daughter, and some other relatives. I have symptoms and signs of several forms of the root of all this, Amyloidosis. Also cardiac involvement and more. Anyway, one of my signs and others in the family has been a symptom of Cystatin-C, Icelandic Amyloidosis. One of the signs is an amorphous deposit of dead protein matter in the cortex of the cerebellum. This causes, in many people, the kind of dementia of which you speak. It is like Altzheimers, but in a different spot in the crebellus. IT CAN BE TREATED! Not cured, but treated. One drug just now on the market is patisiran, a possibility. What I am trying to get to for you is a couple things. Have you written up your story for others to read and get some understanding? I know doctors sometimes do not like it, but that is tough. My story is available for anyone at https://bit.Ly/1w7j4j8, Amyloidosis Dossier, in several formats..pdf, doc, etc. Also, watch some of the videos from Mayo, especially the Grand Round videos. They should be helpful. And you might be helped by double checking your diagnoses.
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1 Reactionthank you john I appreciate you help.
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1 ReactionTry second and third opinions as I have an autoimmune and discovered the opinions were different. Try Mayo Clinic in Rochester as they do every test in the book and get you to see specialists along with many of the tests they run. Initially the diagnosis was different than the dermatologist and based on what I've read (which is alot, along with logging a diary on what I've taken and lab results after where some blood work changed, etc. I have extensive research on myself. In my opinion after 2 + years I went to ER and the nurses caught a bad case of Candida and shortly after my primary diagnosed a Gall Bladder infection which I feel was starting up over a year earlier. When these infections were resolved I started eating and I finally started getting better which could also be the medications they subscribed to me but I think it was everything (infections, medications, antibiotics, etc.). I said from the beginning that antibiotics always made me feel better but obviously you can't take those as long term solutions. They certainly helped with infections I seemed to get quite frequently.
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