Joint pain.

[Pinky1go]

Hi. I have mixed connective tissue disease, probable Lupus and Sjorgens. I'm on Hydroxychloroquine, and am unable to take several medications due to reacting to them. I seem to have been in a flare for ages, and the joint pain is awful, with quite a lot of swelling. Lymph glands swollen. Most of my bloods are in the normal range including esr. I recently had a c3 and c4 test. Could anyone explain to me what they mean please? Thankyou.

[mobilitymiss]

c3and c4 ( compliment) can show if you medication is working and if the inflammation is going down. It can also show how your liver is working. I’ve been on hydroxychlorequine for a lot of years now and I take lots of other medications many of them for my heart condition and diabetes. So it could be the drugs or the immune system playing up. I hope you get it sorted quickly x

[Pinky1go in reply to mobilitymiss]

Thankyou for your reply. I have been on hydroxychloroquine for about 4 to 5 years now. Can you tell me what the low C4 result may indicate please? This test is completely new to me. I had a weak positive SMA but liver function tests were normal.

[mobilitymiss in reply to Pinky1go]

I’m sure how low is low but I know that it shows that you are likely to have an immune condition such as lupus or certain liver conditions. If it is showing likely lupus along with other symptoms they may consider different treatments like methotrexate or other disease modifying drugs

[Cas70]

try using Olbas Oil on your joints, or if going outside use Deep Freeze (it doesn’t smell) - start taking Turmeric it really works after a week or two - natural anti inflammatory

[Wolf_1]

Hi there,

The two tests are to see how your immune system is working and how it’s responding. They tell the doctor if your immune system is functioning correctly or if it is attacking healthy cells or reacting in any other way. Lupus is hard to diagnose as it mimics other diseases. There are certain types of blood results as well as other illnesses that can be caused by SLE that eventually will lead to the diagnosis.

I hope that helps a bit, so good luck, good health and keep,

Wolf 🐺🦋😴💤