New And Waiting For Results

Hi everyone!

I'm new here, & waiting for results from a "lupus panel" blood test. The 1st time I heard the word lupus was about 15 years ago when I was 18. I had severe hives (very lg. & connected, diff part of the body, every nite) they didn't go til i'd had 2 rounds of steroids. Gp ordered blood test, 2 weeks later, got a letter saying I mite have 1 of 4 things, lupus and rheum arth. Being 2 of them. Retested, didn't hear anything, didn't ask. Didn't think about it again, til 4 yrs ago. Had depression, had a blood test, thyroid is good, something else was wrong. Again lupus was mentioned. Doc said it was a bad test. Retested, didn't hear anything, didn't ask, didn't think about it again til 2 mos ago. Had several patches of hair fall out! Cried for 3 days. Wanted to find the source, & once again I saw that word: lupus. Researched, I guessed that the test that was positive was the ana. Even if ana is positive, it doesn't mean I have lupus. Went to the derm who took one look & assured me that this is not lupus. Boy was I relieved! He mentioned getting a blood test for thyroid, but I wasn't concerned. Few week later I get a call from my gp. He heard from my derm and ordered tests. No problem, worse case, it mite be the thyroid, right? I didn't hear anything for weeks and was relieved believing the tests were good. Wrong. I got a call. "everything looks good, except one thing", the ana once again. This time my gp orders a lupus panel, & here I am, waiting. I am not praying for a miracle, just an answer. I hope its a no, but if it's a yes, I think I can deal with that. Besides it would explain a lot: my hair loss, my toes that go numb in the cold, the sharp, stabbing pain in my chest-- I can't even breathe in, it hurts so bad to. It explains why the eczema on my cheeks and nose gets worse in the sun, instead of going away, and why it takes steroid cream instead of cortizone to get rid of it. It might also explain the fatigue that I compare to the fatigue I got when I was pregnant. I just my explain my hemorrage after childbirth, too. Of course I have aches and pains, but that comes with age. The funny thing is, i've never ever talked about lupus with my gp. He doesn't even know about my toes, my chest pains, or even my hives. He knows I have eczema, but i'm not sure he realizes it's on my face. Of course, a friend of mine assured me that the eczema I have can give me a positive ana so I probably don't have lupus. So here I am waiting, and it's driving me nuts! I can deal with a no -- that'd be great! I can deal with a yes -- i'd become proactive. But the waiting..... Sorry this is so long, but it is nice to get it off my chest. I'm looking forward to hearing from people who know about lupus. Thanks for listening
carlie