Had a Flare - No more tanning for me!

Hi all,

I was trying to provoke lupus symptoms for my ANA test by tanning, having a couple of drops of cats claw, having a fruit drink with 1200 mg vitamin C, eating spicy meat, and sugary brownies. I last tanned for 7 minutes the day before yesterday.  Well, I did provoke something that showed up suddenly yesterday (after having two nights of chest pain).  It was horrible!!  Felt like I was going to have a stroke - nauseous, headache, weak, fatigued, but the worst part was the eye pain!!  My eyes had never felt like that before!!  They felt like tremendous pressure was on them - like they were going to explode or something - I can't really describe it very well, but I never want to feel that again.  Made me wonder if I was going to end up losing my vision!  Couldn't relieve it - just slept if off a few hours and when I woke up the eye pain was gone, thank God, and I could still see.  Anyway, even though I had not tanned yesterday I had my ANA done anyway because I knew that after that experience, I was not going to tan today like I had planned to do, in fact, I'm done tanning!!!  I'm a believer now of how bad it can get!!!  If my ANA is negative after all this, I think I'll just cry!!!  Whatever I have is definitely autoimmune-triggered and UV ray-triggered!

Has anyone else here ever had bad eye pain/pressure with a flare?  Please let me hear from you if you have.

Thanks!!

WAF

[torikat32]

oh boy I am glad you are better but dam girl I told you that tanning is bad for you. I hope your ana shows something  did you tell the doctor what happened? why didnt you go to the er ? I have experienced the eye pain before felt like my eye was going to fall out and I went to the eye doctor and she couldnt find anything wrong no ON so chalked it up to a migraine or something. If i go outside and its sunny and I dont wear sunglasses I get that horrible pain in my eye then a headache so I too am sun sensitive I always wear sun glasses even on cloudy days and I have too keep the curtains and blinds closed all the time in daylight to avoid the pain from the sun . let me know what the tests show and take care of yourself please .

Kat

[Weakandfalling]

Hey, Kat,

Sure sounds like you have lupus!!!  Start attending your local lupus support group to get a better handle on it.  They'll know which doctors diagnose lupus best in your area.  Also, you can compare symptoms!  Don't wait until you're diagnosed to attend:  Attending can better help you figure out what's going on with you!  

For instance, I learned that if you have skin lesions activated by UV rays, that, after being exposed to UV, if you go to a lupus-savy dermatologist, you can have the skin lesions biopsied and the doctor can tell if you have lupus from that!!  Find out from your lupus support group  which dermatologist in your area is savvy enough to do it!!  That sure beats finding out you have lupus from going into a coma in the ER and being in the ICU for a month - which is how some have finally gotten their lupus diagnosis!!

Hoping you get your answer!

Hugs!

WAF