My prayers are with you during your flare up. Living with the ups and down of a chronic illness is the hard part. Flare ups always come at the wrong time. But trust God it will soon pass. We look forward to you coming back to encourage us.

Oy ve. I am feeling for you, sister. I've had autoimmune symptoms for >20 years, but was never taken seriously until ~15 years ago, when I worked with a nurse who had lupus for many many years. She pointed me in the right direction. I feel very luck to have "mild" disease (ha ha, what does THAT mean). So no renal involvement (knock on wood). In the last year, I learned that I might have MCTD instead of SLE, as I always thought. I definitely enjoy Raynaud's, peripheral neuropathy, rashes, massive joint pain, horrendous headaches, etc. But I'm reasonably healthy given my body's state of health.

I appreciate your blog's honesty and completely understand and empathize. It's HARD to deal with and accept the reality of one's changed health. There are days that I literally cannot move, I am so wiped and in so much pain. My fingers are so swollen right now that it hurts to type.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. This disease really does suck, doesn't it?

Brenda