Update on my stepdad again

[Laura's Babies]

I had a friend that had it many years ago but it took forever for them to figure out what she had and she darn near died several times before they finally figured out what she had. It took them something like 3 years to figure it out. Why is it so hard for the doctors to recognize?

[Grace]

I had a friend that had it many years ago but it took forever for them to figure out what she had and she darn near died several times before they finally figured out what she had. It took them something like 3 years to figure it out. Why is it so hard for the doctors to recognize?

A lot depends upon the doctor one sees. General Practice, Internist, Rheumatologist - this is the type one wants for Lupus BTW. Does one live in a very rural area, or near a University Medical Center?

The other thing is that symptoms of any specific disease process can vary from patient to patient.

[wombat2u2004]

I had a friend that had it many years ago but it took forever for them to figure out what she had and she darn near died several times before they finally figured out what she had. It took them something like 3 years to figure it out. Why is it so hard for the doctors to recognize?

Because the symptoms are so varied and different in most patients.
Ohhhhhh....it took a long while to figure out what my ex wife had....I think she exhibited symptoms for some 3 or 4 years before she was diagnosed.
But the rash on the face, which to doctors is a dead giveaway of the disease, doesn't appear on a lot of people.....my ex never had the rash, mainly she had VERY sore joints...all joints were affected, from toes all the way up to the fingers. Some days, she couldn't pick up a pen to write......so the doctors thought she had arthritis for a very long time. And all the time this was happening, her very own anti-bodies were munching away at her kidneys and liver......no one knew.