My GP admitted to me the other day that he had not heard of pt's with discoid lupus that changed to SLE lupus. I am wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them?
I/m one of the 99% my rumy said that does not happen
I was diagnosed with discoid lupus in 2011 via skin biopsy. Since then I've developed symptoms of SLE. Joint and muscle pain, fatigue. My ANA is now weakly positive. My dermatologist put me on plaquenil which has helped a lot. She feels that not all people can fit in a neat box of just having discoid vs totally having SLE. I get bloodwork every 6 months to monitor the situation.
Currently I'm on plaquenil and just restarted topical desonide cream (steroid). I work outside 10 hrs/day so I battle mine. One day of not enough sunblock and they flair with a vengeance. I can only use zinc/titanium blocks the others don't last long enough and seem to make the rash worse. I have one big discoid plaque on one cheek and a smaller one on the other, but sometimes I also have the butterfly rash on top of it. I started getting discoid lesions on my arms but those went away a few weeks after starting plaquenil. I'm also very sensitive to cleaners. The only thing I can tolerate is Cetaphil. I use CerVe moisturizer and that doesn't seem to bother it.
I have a neighbor who started out with severe discoid, went into systemic but the discoid went in remission. Don't know if that helps or not.
I had lupus profundus and developed SLE.