Swollen gut lymph nodes in Lupus or long-term infection?

[LPLx]

Hi everyone,

I'm on a journey of figuring out what's happening in my body. The latest information I have been given is that nothing was found in a CT scan but I do have slightly swollen lymph nodes in my small bowel? Is this common in Lupus, I wonder? I'm also wondering if I could potentially have a tropical bacteria/viral infection from my food poisoning I got 1.5 years ago. I'm just wondering what route to take with that information in terms of treatment.

Thanks,

L xx

[Jmiller623]

Hi LPLx. It’s difficult to say what is going on without a lymph node biopsy which is the end all, be all for diagnosis of a lymphoproliferative disease. A biopsy will tell you if it’s reactive, infection, autoimmune, etc. Swollen lymph nodes do happen in lupus and can happen anywhere.

Do you have swollen lymph nodes elsewhere? Any GI symptoms? Night sweats, weight loss?

[LPLx in reply to Jmiller623]

I get throbbing in my whole body, which feels like my lymph nodes, but it's hard to know! I do get night sweats, yes and severe weight loss too. Butterfly rash constantly across the face. Good to know how it could be diagnosed!

Thanks so much for your help

L x

[Cathyan]

Just wondering what the food poisoning was 18 months ago. What country were you in? And for how long? Just thinking about tropical causes - Amoebiasis/Giardiasis are frequently diagnosed some months later. Amoebiasis can give later diagnoses. TB might cause peritoneal lymphadenopathy but probably way down the list for likely causes.

[LPLx in reply to Cathyan]

Hi Cathyan,

I was silly and I didn't get it tested as I was out there for a month and I didn't want to go into hospital at the time. I was in South America - Brazil and Peru. I

I am doing a OCP test to see if there's anything in there still.

Thanks so much for this suggestion!

All the best,

L