Another interesting post for those with both Lupus and Fibro. ~Holly Lupus and fibromyalgia often co-exist, and determining whether one versus the other is causing pain can be challenging. There are some things that I use to distinguish whether pain is resulting from active lupus or from fibromyalgia. For example, if an individual is experiencing a lupus flare causing pain, it is likely that they have other findings, such as joint swelling, skin rashes, ulcers in their mouth, fever, or pain with breathing (pleurisy). Also, blood tests may show signs of active lupus, such as evidence of inflammation, low blood counts, or protein in the urine. None of these findings would be a feature of fibromyalgia, and would therefore make it more likely that pain is from lupus. If such signs of symptoms are present, I might prescribe medications to treat lupus, which in turn should help the pain improve. If the pain does improve with lupus treatment, this can be an important clue that it was caused by lupus. In contrast, sometimes people have pain and no evidence of lupus or any other disease being active. In these cases, I would look to see if the pattern of symptoms is consistent with fibromyalgia. For example, pain in fibromyalgia is often widespread, and sometimes associated with other problems, like poor sleep, irritable bowel symptoms, tension headaches, cold intolerance, anxiety or depression. Treatments for fibromyalgia are entirely different from treatments in lupus, and that is why it is important to try to distinguish the two.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 02:11:12 +0000
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