Well, I went back and got my official diagnosis after extensive testing. I mean extensive! I had 15 vials of blood drawn. Because he was confident what he would see, he started me on treatment a month ago. I am on Plaquinel (a quinine based anti-malarial) and Neurontin (an anti-seizure) to treat the symptoms of Lupus. It's not an exact science...there's a lot of trial involved in regulating medications.

I've been dealing with Pleurisy, an inflammation in the Lungs which can cause great fun when doing unnecessary things...like breathing. Also there's pretty significant pain in my right side below my ribs so coughing, sneezing, hiccupping, burping, yawning and laughing can hurt. All this in addition to the arthritic type symptoms.

On the plus side, he is confident that once the plaquinel is really controlling the disease my hair will return. My mother is encouraging me to sheer it very short (less than 1 inch) so when it comes back it will do so more uniformly. I'm hesitant because I have so little hair and frankly...it's cold outside.

So I got the diagnosis I was prepared for...now it's learning to live with it. I hope for a remission.