Thinking everything is lupus …

Does anyone else do this? Whenever something hurts, I think it’s lupus. When I get a cold sore, I think it’s lupus. When I’m so tired I can’t move, I think it’s lupus. In early years of diagnosis (17 years ago) I was running off to the rheumie every three or four months. It was almost never lupus.

After a bit, I started letting aches and pains accumulate until the picture got clearer. Now, I see rheumie rarely and get scolded by same for not coming in often enough, or getting bloods drawn on schedule.

Please, no scolding from y’all, I’m carrying enough grief.