What Blood Tests Show Lupus Is Effecting Your Muscles?
What Blood Tests Show Lupus Is Effecting Your Muscles?
From the Cleveland Clinic Muscle disease is fairly common in SLE. These patients often present with myalgia complaints, and the cause of these muscle pains is not always clear. Again, it is important to recognize that SLE patients often have coexisting fibromyalgia complaints related to chronic disease, poor sleep, inactivity, and depression or mood problems. Some SLE patients have myositis that can be proved by biopsy. The frequency of myositis in lupus patients is approximately 4%. The biopsy is often similar to polymyositis. If myositis is suspected by elevations in the creatine kinase without specific muscle weakness, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the gluteal and upper thigh muscles can be used to look for an abnormal signal, which might lead to a potential biopsy site. It is important to distinguish nonspecific myalgia from myositis, because treatment could be affected.
I've never heard of one. However there is a muscle biopsy that is done for determining if you have excess lactic acid or a disorder like Myositis. For those Myositis showing skin symptoms, doctors often biopsy a piece of skin to study. Electro-diagnostic tests: Muscle resonance imaging scans (MRI) reveal inflammation in muscles; electromyograms (EMG) detect changes in muscles' electrical patterns that indicate muscle disease and which muscles are affected. So I am sure that can be done for Lupus as well.
CK enzyme and aldonase will show if it’s affecting muscle. Also do the myositis antibody panel to check for myositis.
I see these posts are old. I have cracking and popping in chest and my neck and back. Have experienced the deep pain in left rib/chest area. With stabbing pains and inflammation over the lower rib.
