schlerdoma

[dana_8142]

A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with schlerdoma, I'm curios - what is this disease, and how do docs test for it.  The reason I ask is she said she feels absolutley fine, and has no symptoms - she went to her doc because her sister was just diagnosed with lupus and she just wanted to be safe.  She thought everything would come back all clear and was shocked to hear this.  But I didn't think there was a test to diagnose this, I thought symptoms diagnosed it.  Could a doc have made a mix up somewhere in the paper work?

Let me know what you all think, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Dana

[medix]

Thanks for joining in. My wife was recently diagnosed of Scleroderma with a simple manifestation in the lung as ILD. There are little symptoms like raynods syndrome and some shinny skin on the palm. She had dry cough and breathlessness. Diagnosed within 45 days of onset and she is now on steriods and immunosuppresent. responding fairly well.

[Jaybay]

My cousin has a very severe case of scleroderma and was diagnosed in her early 20's.  Very simply put, it's an autoimmune disorder that causes scar tissue to form in the skin.  In severe cases, this scarring shows up in the internal organs.  My cousin has both manifestations and probably won't live to see 40.  Her face is frozen and she can barely open her mouth to eat.  Even high-dose steroids didn't slow down the progression very much.  Most cases are not this severe, but I'm glad you were diagnosed very early.

[medix]

Hi

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease and this could be diagnosed by High resolution CT, ANA profile test, and a lung biopsy if required. The differential diagnosis is ofcourse to eliminate TB, rheumatic disease etc.,

The symptoms alone may not refer to a confirmation of this disease as there are various things that could look similar in this disease too.