Lupus and Gastro Problems

When I tell people I have mixed connective tissue disease with major symptoms of lupus, many people ask me if it affects my kidneys. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that affects the kidneys is called lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis causes inflammation (swelling or scarring) of the small blood vessels that filter wastes in your kidney (glomeruli) and sometimes the kidneys, by attacking them like they would attack a disease. I do not have lupus nephritis.

To date, I have not had any issues with my kidneys. Lupus can affect any major organ in your body from your heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, joints, nerves, to stomach. The main issues I have had over the years are my lungs and stomach.

For the past two years, I’ve had major issues with my stomach. It began in 2015 when I started to constantly feel nauseous, constipated, and had bloof in my stool that put me in the emergency room. I would take Mirlax for a week and it would work. Once I stopped taking the Mirlax for a few days, the constipation would return. The emergency room doctor told me I needed to see a gastroenterologist. I went to the gastro and had a EGK/colonoscopy. Relatively, everything came back fine. He said I needed to take more fiber and would need to get another follow up upper endoscopy and colonoscopy a year later. I didn’t like the way the doctor handled things with the follow up appointments so I sought out a new doctor. The new doctor wanted me to have another (upper endoscopy which is a scope that looks into your stomach) and a colonoscopy. Before I was 30 years old, I was having these multiple procedures but I remained steadfast.

When I went to the new doctor, I had lost over 60 pounds and continuously losing. I had gotten to the point where I finally learned how to manage my weight while having a chronic illness. After having the colonoscopy, my stomach was in extreme amount of pain. The doctor told me it was common to be in this pain for a few days. He stated they had to push on my stomach because of the numerous air pockets. But after a couple of days, the pain didn’t subside. It intensified. I immediately called the gastro to make an appointment. I told him what was going on and immediately he said “pushing on my stomach could have not caused my ongoing issue”. He may be right. However, he had no answer but to send me for a CT scan.  After the CT scan came back with nothing, he ordered me a pill cam study. The pill cam goes deeper into the stomach to see if there is any underlying issues beyond what you can see in the endoscopy. There he found an ulcer. Now, we have an answer. Well, sort of.

As I am typing this today, I am now being referred to get a balloon procedure to take a piece of the ulcer to see if it’s bacteria. Some days I don’t feel as bad because I’m on a pain medicine. When I get an infection, like sinus, upper resp, or stomach virus, the pain intensifies even with the pain medicine.

I hope one day I get the answers I’m looking for. I will keep you updated on my progress on my stomach. How does my stomach feel today? In pain, which compelled me to write this blog post. I don’t see too many posts on gastro problems associated with lupus. For that reason, I wanted to share my journey and how I’ve been managing it.