Well I had my rheumatologist follow up today, he said my immune system was definitely going crazy. My ANA and RH factor were both normal which is good, but my immune responses were high. He gave me two shots, steroid and tramadol, and told me to let him know if it helped at all with my pain or if the pain stayed the same. He said if it helped he could work with it. Not sure what that means. He said he wasn't sure if it was my lupus or the fibromyalgia that wascausingtbe pain. I guess the steroid shot will tell him what it causing the pain. I go back in 6 weeks. This illness is such a pain in the @$$, literally! :) Does steroids help any of you?
Confirmed lupus and fibromyalgia by the rheumatologist. The steroid shot was for joint pain and tramadol for the muscle pain. Sjogrens syndrome is secondary to the lupus. I do feel some better, I have had less pain over the last couple of days. It hasn't went away but I haven't had to take hydrocodone for a couple of days either.
Hi MBmom,
I'm confused. Isn't ANA used to determine if you have lupus or not? I know they aren't always an accurate measure of what's going on but...I'm confused by what you've written. For what it's worth, I'm glad that your RH factor and ANA were normal.
I don't know if steroids are ever used for fibro pain. I see you say that it's for joint pain, but from fibro or lupus?
Please keep us in the loop. I hope you get some real answers soon but in the meantime, at least you have had some pain RELIEF!