Make sure you tell them all your symptoms and be prepared to have a TON of blood work ordered. I had 12 vials taken from me I thought I was going to faint! Regardless if you had a negative ANA, they will run every test on you. Everyone that has Lupus does not show a positive ANA and not everyone who has a positive ANA has Lupus. Good luck to you!!

You're not going crazy. You're symptoms are real. Know that even if all your tests are neg., it means nothing. This is the frustrating part of having an autoimmune disorder. We've all been there. It took 5 yrs for me to get diagnosis and my rheumy still isn't convinced. He's sending me to U of M to get opinion for treatment as I cannot get off prednisone. He knows I have connective tissue dis order and does not treat me like a hypochondriac. But, has no clue how to help me. Try to be patient and don't give up.hopefully he can treat your symptoms even if can't put a label on it.

either way, if it is psoriatic arthritis, the treatment isn't much different.
I wouldn't be so concerned with exact diagnosis as there are crossovers and so many variations. From my experience, as long as you are getting treatment to get better and are getting better, that is the most important thing. Sounds like your Rheumy is listening to you and wants to help you to get better. And, maybe it isn't Lupus. Again, my frustration was that here I had all these symptoms and all blood tests were negative therefore my Rheumy wouldn't treat me. He would tell me, he knew I had a connective tissue disorder but needed a name in order to put me on biologic. Only a medrol dose pack when I was in severe pain. Very frustrating. So, in short, take the diagnosis Psoriatic Arthritis and get better. BTW, there are definitive tests to get diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, so possibly giving you that one will allow for your dr. to treat you. Wish mine would have done that for me as my symptoms were similar to Psoriatic Arthritis as well.

Had my first app with a rheumy yesterday and she pretty much said as soon as i walked in thay my ANA test is negative so that means i dont have lupus. She ordered a full blood panel to completely rule it out but thinks i have psoratic arthritis and my other health issues are just from being unlicky

Meek,
I think your kidney problems are due to your Lupus. As we go along, we start putting pieces together and realize that most of our ailments are connected to our Lupus or any other Auto-immune disease we may have.
Leenie