I believe Rheumatoid Arthritis is where every Autoimmune Disease stem from.. I have always had bad knees and the older I got they got worse but I didn't pay them any attention I had things to do!!!!!!
Now as I stated, Lupus can affect everyone differently!!!!! Some of the symptoms are:
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling (had that), Fever, the classic Butterfly-Shaped rash that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose or rashes elsewhere on the body. (had it all)
I recently found out that there are some infections and medications that can trigger lupus out of its sleeping stage!!!!!!! Now that is alarming!!!!! I can't even imagine being treated for something with a medication and then later being diagnosed with lupus!!!!!!
There are 4 Types of Lupus:
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): The most common and most serious of them all.
Cutaneous Lupus: Only affects the skin.
Drug-Induced Lupus: This is short-term lupus caused my medicines.
Neonatal Lupus: Rare type of lupus that affects newborns.(I can't even imagine)
Lupus can affect anyone but when I was diagnosed in 1990 it affected mainly minority women between the ages of 15-45 now Lupus and other Autoimmune diseases are running rampart.
During the 35 years I have been dealing with Lupus I found that there are a number of autoimmune diseases that are "cousins" to lupus like :
Scleroderma (yep I got it)
Celiac Disease
Sjorgrem's Syndrome
MS (Multiple Sclerosis)
Can you imagine having more than one autoimmune diseases?!?!?!? I can tell you from experience, its not fun!!!!!
LupusAllStarrs Foundation