Thursday, August 15, 2013

Test For Lupus

Test for Lupus








Lupus is a complex autoimmune disease. It often makes the body's immune system attack its own cells, tissues and organs. Lupus has a wide variety of symptoms that often appear and disappear throughout a sufferer's life. You can test for lupus, although you will have to rule out a number of other conditions in the process to be sure. Read on to learn test for lupus.








Instructions


1. Take a urine sample. Your doctor should then look for large amounts of protein in your urine as well as other abnormalities. A urine analysis will show symptoms similar to kidney disease if you have lupus.


2. Get your lungs and chest scanned as well. Lupus will cause a variety of things to show up on the scan, including inflammation of the lining of the lung, heart lining inflammation and inflammation around your abdomen. If any of these issues show up, further testing will have to be done to rule out other conditions.


3. Have a blood test done. This test will look for low numbers of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. All three of these conditions could be caused by your immune system attacking your blood stream and could indicate lupus.


4. Check for the swelling of your joints. A doctor will do tests to see if the swelling is caused by an activity that you do or if it is a result of lupus, which can cause arthritis-like symptoms in many sufferers.


5. Talk to your doctor about other causes of your conditions. It could be that other activities and parts of your lifestyle are the cause of some of your symptoms. If your doctor cannot explain the cause of your symptoms, he will probably put on a treatment plan for lupus patients or send you to a specialist. Don't get discouraged, as this condition can be extremely difficult to narrow down.

Tags: blood cells, conditions could, immune system, other conditions, test lupus, Test Lupus