Falling and dropping things with lupus?

[ShannonB]

I am seronegative SLE, aged 49 and diagnosed at age 12. I take hydroxcloriquine, prednisolone and mycophenolste as well as ikervis/ciclosprine eye drops.

I have been struggling recently with two dominant issues that haven’t responded well to my treatment - severe hand and foot pain especially in the morning and vision problems. The ikervis drops have significantly helped the vision issues.

My hand and foot pain has progressed and I have started falling and dropping things - it feels like my muscles aren’t working right.

Anyone else with SLE have this issue?

[AimeeA]

You could be experiencing neurological damage from lupus BUT it could be any number of other things as well. It is really important whenever you get a new symptom to (a) talk to your doctor about it and (b) don't just assume it is lupus because it could be something else that needs treatment.

So talk to your doctor about this.

I had severe back and foot pain in the morning that turned out to be a bad mattress. Apparently they lose support around 7 years (sooner or later depending on mattress quality) and my nerves were getting pinched while sleeping due to back out of alignment. Once I got a new mattress, problem was instantly fixed.

I also went thru a spell with muscle pain, and it turned out to be dehydration (not drinking enough water can cause muscle cramps and problems).

So you never know what it might be, but you need to get it checked out if it continues.

[ShannonB in reply to AimeeA]

Thank you for these thoughts - I have shared it with him. Hopefully I’ll get to the bottom of it.

[Sarisoo]

Boring answer, I know, but it could be B12 or folate. Low levels of these also cause neuro symptoms. Also being deficient is pretty common in autoimmune disease.

[ShannonB in reply to Sarisoo]

Thanks for this idea.