Hey LupusNme,

     I am soooooo sorry it took so long for me to get back with you.  I am going through a flare up right now, and trying to work and take care of my kids, I'm just exhausted.  I'm sure you can understand.  You had asked me why a person typically has a sleep study, lots of reasons.  If you are having truble sleeping at night, if you have fatigue (which with Lupus of course we do), if you have high blood pressure, depression, snoring, if you fall asleep when you don't mean to, like when driving, or when talking with a friend, when watching TV, etc, if you have trouble with weight gain, if you have heart trouble, diabetes, liver disease, can't go to sleep, can't stay asleep, wake up before you intend to, or sleep too much, then talk with your doctor about those things and ask if a sleep study might be a good idea.  Personally (not as a sleep tech) I was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of 23, my Rhuematologist suggested a sleep study, I thought she was nuts, at that time I didn't snore, I had no trouble falling asleep, I could sleep 16 hours at a time if given the chance, I was a little overweight, but not obese.  I was sent for a sleep study, and sure enough I had severe obstructive sleep apnea!  I was put on CPAP and the difference was night and day, I lost 30 pounds, my blood pressure stabalized (I had been on 3 different BP meds) and I felt really good, I still had falre ups, but they weren't as often.  Now both as a SLeep Tech, and as a person with Lupus, and a sleep disorder, I highly recommend anyone with an autoimmune disorder, or chronic pain disorder get a sleep study, it is amazing how a good nights sleep helps improve your mood, and helps raise your pain tolerance, it's still pain, but much easier to deal with.  I hope that helps, sorry again it took so long to get back with you.

Michele 

LupusNme,

     Hey I read your post about the spider bite your sister got.  I can see why you would be fearful of them.  I don't think I have a story or a reason of why I am unnaturally fearful of them, I just always have been.  I have had dreams where they are crawling up my leg and I am paralyzed with fear.  And I saw some movie once where a woman got a zit and it popped and spiders came out.  I have no idea what the movie was or why I even saw it, but it has stuck with me all this time.  My mom and I found a wolf spider in our kitchen, it was big and appeared hairy, she stepped on it, and it turned out it wasn't hair, it had babies on it's back, they ran in all different directions, it gives me chills just thinking about it.  I think my fear started before that though.

Michele 

thank you Pinkers

Hello:

I, too, am dealing with the effects of SLE.  I'm sorry you have the disease, but I'd be very glad to be your friend.  How long have you had it?  I was diagnosed on June 1, 1999, although I ran across a bill the other day that showed in January of 1999, in the side bar, it said "Here for SLE."  So, they knew or highly suspected that I had it six months before they gave me the diagnosis.  I was declared in remission on June 8th of 2000.  So, I'm doing fairly well.  Do you take Plaquenil?  I used to take it from the get go and I started noticing I felt better after three weeks.  They said it would take six weeks.  I had no side effects whatsoever from it, for which I'm glad.  I have side effects from other drugs such as anti-depressants, prednisone, et cetera.  Right now, I have joint pain in my elbows and right above my left ankle.  I think I might have a stress fracture there.  I go to the doctor tomorrow.  Anyway, I can deal with the pain if I take the pain medication.  I only take Excedrin for it because, even though that's a headache medicine and I don't have headaches unless it's sinuses, it helps relieve the pain enough so it's doable.  It does not take it away at all.  It just makes me feel better.  I take three a day. 

You say you're a single Mom.  How many kids do you have?  Boys, girls?  Ages?

Before I get cut off with the 2000 word limit, I'll say take  care, have a good day, and I hope you write back.  It's great to have someone to email when you're sick, especially we who have the same illness.  I'll look forward to hearing from you. 

If you want, so we can talk longer without being restricted, my email address is annes144@q.com.