Can Trauma Trigger a Medical Predisposition?

My daughter now 40 years old was recently a victim of an auto accident but was not physically injured except for trauma to her strained back and neck.  Prior to her accident my daughter was in good health and led an active life.  A few days after her accident all the joints in her body became very swollen and she was in great pain and had a fever.  She could not move without severe pain and we rushed her to the hospital.  A few weeks later she was diagnosed by a Rheumatologist with Systemic Lupus and autoimmune disease.

What knowledge and case studies do you know of similar situations?  Auto insurance will not pay for her autoimmune condition as they say it is NOT related to the auto accident.  Any ideas will be appreciated.

Sad Mom

[Sherri90049]

My situation was similar but not quite as quick as your daughter's. I have lupus, fibromyalgia & Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I had a car accident almost 19 years ago (when I was 23) and I began noticing fibromyalgia symptoms soon after. Then a few months after that, I began noticing lupus symptoms. It took a couple of years for me to get a diagnosis of both of those unfortunately, but from everything I've read, it is not at all uncommon to have the autoimmune process be "triggered" by physical trauma. Also, there are usually other contributing factors like genetic predisposition, sun exposure, infection, stress, etc. Sadly we don't usually ever get a good understanding of exactly what/why it happened. So I guess for the auto insurance company, they'll say that, even though the accident may have contributed to her condition or "triggered" it, there were other contributing factors, and the likelihood that she would have developed it any way even if the accident didn't happen is high. (and my experience tells me that is probably true) Having had lupus as long as I have, I have read alot so just wanted to share what I had learned with you.

I am sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope that she will be able to live well with the disease soon. It is entirely possible! Many people do! For me what I have noticed about the times when I'm doing better: 1.) it's usually when my stress level is on the lower end of the range, and 2.) after I changed my diet, I had noticeable improvement. (especially getting rid of gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and caffeine, and drinking tons and tons of water!) I didn't pay attention to that when I had first heard it years earlier, but when I got really tired of being in pain, I gave it a try and it worked.

She is lucky to have a concerned mother like you! I am sure that will be a comforting thing to her while she is going through this. Odds are she will be ok. They have several medications that are very effective for controlling lupus. (Plaquenil helped me alot.) I hope she has a good doctor that she likes. That's always very important in this type of situation. I wish you both the best. If I can ever answer any other questions, please let me know. And please let her know that this site is a great place for support, too!