Recent Lupus Diagnosis

[Smy74]

Hi. After suffering with seizures, and quite a few of them, my consultant neurologist has ordered some tests, ie, MRI, EEG and also various blood tests. I was admitted into hospital last week after suffering another 2 seizures, and one of the doctors told me that I have tested positive for Lupus. Is there any chance that a positive test could turn out to be a negative after all.

[whisperit]

Hello Smy74,

That must be a worrying situation to be in - having to live with a lot of uncertainty is often one of the worst things about complex conditions. I have no way of knowing what evidence your doctor was using to make that statement. But diagnosis of lupus/SLE is often a difficult business and it may take a long time before one can be sure. There are also a host of related conditions that can complicate the situation (such as various systemic connective tissue diseases, Sjogren's Syndrome and so on). A combination of physical symptoms and blood markers, often repeated over a period of time, is usually needed

The LupusUK leaflet might help lupusuk.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Hope things get clearer soon x

[Paul_Howard Partner LUPUS UK]

Hi Smy74 ,

It is lovely to see that whisperit has given you some excellent information and support already. As he says, it can be very difficult to confirm a diagnosis of lupus and so it is likely to will still have further investigations. Do you know which test you had? Some blood tests are more specific to lupus than others and so a positive result could be very suggestive of lupus with some tests but not so much with others. You can learn more about the tests in our article here - lupusuk.org.uk/getting-diag...

If you need any more information about lupus and LUPUS UK we have a free pack which you can request or download at lupusuk.org.uk/request-info...

[KayHimm]

I know you must be very worried. Your doctors are clearly concerned about you and exploring the cause of your seizures. To answer your question, you would have to know what tests were positive. You should express your concern to your doctors. The neurologist could tell you how he is interpreting the results. You are the most important person right now. Your doctors are there for emotional support as well as trying to make a difficult diagnosis. Hope you get more clarification. Take care.

[Smy74 in reply to KayHimm]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me. It really is appreciated xx