Ok..so Lupus? Or overreacting again?

[axxerd]

So, I recently had a hair cut, and when the hairdresser was finished washing my hair, I thought it looked thinner than I'm used to. I asked her if it was thinning, and she said she thought it herself when she saw it.

So, being self concious about this, I spent more time than usual running my fingers through my hair and analyzing if hairs were present on my hands, and if so, how many? I was noticing 2 or 3 most times when I did this, and by being the health anxiety ridden guy I am, I couldn't control myself from using my drug (google), and looking into hair loss.

I vaguely remember stumbling on lupus signs and symptoms back in November when I was worried about 'bubbly urine'..so some of that knowledge came to the forefront when I started to over analyze everything. I started to read the symptoms and one thing led to another, and here I am again!

So, to give you the jist of my concerns, here is the deal:

I'm a 29 year old white male. I was going through a healh anxiety episode in November over what I thought was bubbly urine (protein!?), and of course had myself convinced I had kidney issues. I went to the doctor and he said based on just talking to me he wouldn't figure I had anything to worry about, but to make me feel better he asked if I wanted a complete blood testing and urinalysis done. I have all the CBC and ESR done. I also had thyroid, cholesterol, renal, etc.. The bloodwork and urine tests came back fine.

So, what is it that I have myself slightly obsessing over now?

- Hair is thinning, and when I run my hands through my hair I see 2 or 3 hairs come off on my hands. I don't know if this is normal or not. I do find this occurs mostly after I have been wearing a hat all day with the front part of my hair pulled back and tucked under my hat. I don't notice as many hairs when my hair isn't styled, and I had recently had a shower and washed my hair

- My left knee aches when it is cold, or after a long day on my feet in poor shoes (I am a wedding photographer).

- I have 'red' on my face. Not sure if it considered malar rash or not...but of course I've over analyzing every inch of it these past few days, and also touching it a lot, which probably doesn't help. I also have dry cheeks this time of year it seems. They are sometimes tight feeling, and you can see white where the skin has cracked or peeled a little Here is a pic of my face at the moment: http://i.imgur.com/lUPZWIh.jpg

- One of the symptoms of lupus is kidney complications. This brings me back to my 'bubbly urine' worries of November. The urinalysis and the renal bloodwork was 'fine' according to my doctor...so I don't know..I'm probably going overboard here and should just take those tests coming back normal as evidence to get over that.

I don't really have any other symptoms..no swelling, no sores on the roof of my mouth, no chest pains, no pain in other joints, i don't think i have sensitivity to the sun etc...

The main things making me wonder is the hair thinning, the knee that aches in the cold or after standing and running around for a long day, the red on my face, and the old worries about bubbles in urine that I already had tested.

So NMP...am I taking something like natural hair thinning of a 29 year old man a little too far here...or do I have reason to panic?

[axxerd]

This post is one of the only posts on the first page without a reply, and it has had nearly 30 views. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions for me?

[Zee]

Hi Axxerd. I have a relative with Lupus. The main symptom was quite a low white cell count and extreme tiredness .After further testing it was diagnosed but have to say that she lives a perfectly normal life, only thing is that if she gets a cold or sore throat it can take a little while longer to clear than a fully working immune system would clear it.

[axxerd]

Thanks so much for the reply Zee! I guess one of my biggest questions is whether or not 'something' would have flagged my doctor in my blood and urine tests if I have lupus. I know the disease isn't the easiest to diagnose, but I wonder if some counts would be out of whack if I have it.

[almamatters]

I was told by my rheumatologist that in nearly every case of lupus ESR levels in blood tests will be raised, hence showing inflammation and ANA levels will be raised. Apparently 99.9 percent of cases of lupus are diagnosed by blood tests, this is according to a specialist in the condition, so if your blood tests are normal than this has got to be very reassuring.
Have you had relevant blood tests for lupus?

[axxerd]

Thanks for the comment!

I haven't had blood testing for Lupus, as I only started to read about it (and subsequently start to worry I may have it) about a week ago. I don't seem to have many symptoms of it, but you know how it goes with health anxiety and googling. I also have dry skin on my face that is causing a bit of redness...but I have no idea if this is 'malar rash' or just red skin

[almamatters]

Without going into too much detail as this is a anxiety site, malar rash is very distinctive and a doctor would pick up on it straight away, lupus has many more symptoms than what you are describing and red skin is not particularly a symptom. Could it be weather related , most of us get dry skin in the winter. Sorry could not be more help.

[axxerd]

You have actually been a help! Thanks very much!

[NoPoet]

I'll be brutally honest mate, if you discard your entire first post except for the words "health anxiety", that pretty much answers your question.

Take the alternative approach by challenging your health anxiety. If you have got lupus, so what? I actually cannot think of anything to say in reply to that question, but if you think of something, it will actually tell us a lot about the way you think, which gives us a way to break in to the health anxiety.