Providing Answers, Support, and Hope in Texas
Common Diseases That Overlap with Lupus
Sometimes, people with lupus also have other conditions or diseases. These “overlap” conditions may include Raynaud’s syndrome, Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and others. If you think you have another condition besides lupus, talk to your rheumatologist.
Raynaud’s syndrome
Raynaud’s syndrome causes blood vessels in certain parts of your body to tighten. When this happens, less blood gets to those areas. About 1 in 3 people with lupus also have Raynaud’s.
Raynaud’s most often affects the fingers and toes, but it can also affect blood vessels in other parts of your body — like your ear lobes, nose, or lips. Raynaud’s “attacks” usually last for about 15 minutes. They’re often brought on by triggers like cold temperatures or stress.
Symptoms of a Raynaud’s attack can include:
- Color changes to the skin. Your fingers or toes may turn red, white, blue, or purple.
- Cold or numb skin. During an attack, it might feel like your hands or feet are “asleep.”
- Tingling. As blood flow returns, you might have a tingling or “pins and needles” feeling in your hands or feet.
If you have Raynaud’s syndrome, there are steps you can take to help prevent attacks — and manage your symptoms when they do happen.
To prevent an attack:
- Try to avoid sudden changes in temperature — especially going from warm air to cold air
- Dress warmly for cold weather by wearing a coat, hat, warm socks, and mittens (which keep the hands warmer than gloves). Both the core and hands need to stay warm. You should never feel a bit of shivering because of cold.
- Cover your hands when have to touch something cold (like if you’re getting something out of the freezer)
- Be mindful of taking decongestant medicines, beta blockers and some migraine medications — these can sometimes make symptoms of Raynaud’s worse
- Avoid using tools that vibrate (like electric mixers or power tools) when you can
- Find healthy ways to manage your stress — like through physical activity, meditation, or taking time to do something you love
- Don’t smoke or spend time around people who are smoking
- Limit caffeine and energy drinks which may cause narrowing of blood vessels and make symptoms worse.
To manage symptoms of an attack:
- Soak your hands or feet in warm water (but not hot) as soon as you notice symptoms
- Warm your body up slowly — drinking a warm beverage might help
- Try the windmill maneuver: swing your arms in large circles from the shoulders, or swing them across your body as if throwing a Frisbee. This may help restore blood flow to your fingers and end the attack sooner.
- If stress triggered the attack, take slow, deep breaths and try to relax.
Talk with your doctor if your Raynaud’s symptoms get worse — or if you notice sores on your fingers or toes.
Sjögren’s disease
Sjögren’s disease is an autoimmune disorder that targets the glands that create moisture. Up to 9 out of every 50 people with lupus also have Sjögren’s disease. You’re more likely to have Sjögren’s disease if you’re a woman or if you’re between ages 45 and 55.
Sjögren’s disease most often affects the mouth and eyes, but it can affect other parts of the body too. Symptoms can include:
- Dryness in the mouth, eyes, skin, nose, throat, or vagina
- Joint or muscle pain
- Fatigue (feeling very tired all the time)
- Trouble swallowing or speaking due to dryness
- Skin rashes
- Brain fog (having trouble focusing or thinking)
If you have Sjögren’s disease, the main goal of treatment is managing your symptoms to keep you as comfortable as possible. Here are some tips:
- Treat dryness in the eyes, mouth, or vagina with prescription medicines or over-the-counter products (such as artificial tears/lubricants)
- Use a humidifier at home and at work
- Ask your doctor if you’re taking any medicines that might be making your symptoms worse
- Take good care of your teeth and gums, because people with Sjögren’s disease have a higher risk of dental issues — for example, you might need more frequent dental cleanings or prescription toothpaste
- Avoid foods or products that can irritate the mouth — like alcohol, spicy or acidic foods and drinks, hard or crunchy foods, tartar-control toothpaste, and teeth-whitening products
- Don’t smoke or spend time around people who are smoking
Rheumatoid arthritis
Like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects the joints, usually the wrists, fingers and toes. But it can also affect the eyes, mouth, or lungs. Some people might use the term “rhupus” to describe RA and lupus that overlap.
Symptoms of RA include:
- Pain, swelling, stiffness, or tenderness in more than 1 joint
- Stiffness that’s worse in the morning or after sitting for long periods of time
- Pain and stiffness that affects the same joint on both sides of your body (for example, both wrists)
- Weakness or fatigue (feeling very tired all the time)
- Fever
Many of these symptoms are also present in lupus and can be hard to distinguish from RA. The joint swelling and potential joint deformities and erosions of the joint bones are more common in RA.
Read more about how lupus affects the joints, muscles, and bones.
There are steps you can take to help manage your RA symptoms and limit damage to your joints. Working with your doctor to come up with a treatment plan is key — especially if you’ve been diagnosed with RA recently. That’s because most lasting joint damage from RA happens within the first 2 years.
Treatment plans for RA usually involve medicines and changes to your daily routines. Some people with RA may also need surgery to treat serious joint damage.
Medicines for RA can:
- Help with your symptoms (like joint pain, swelling, and stiffness)
- Keep RA from getting worse
Some of the same medicines used to treat lupus can also be used to treat RA, but there are some medications that are effective in RA, but may make lupus worse. It is important to discuss all options with your doctor.
To help manage your RA symptoms:
- Stay active to help keep the muscles around your joints strong — your doctor can recommend safe and gentle activities that work for you
- Rest your body if you have severe inflammation in your joints
- Use heat or cold therapy — cold packs can ease pain and reduce swelling, and heating pads or warm baths can relax your muscles and help with pain
- Try different ways to relax to help ease your pain, like deep breathing exercises
- Don’t smoke or spend time around people who are smoking
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and trouble thinking or concentrating. It affects the way your brain and nervous system process pain, making you more sensitive to painful and sometimes non-painful sensations. Fibromyalgia can occur alongside lupus and other chronic conditions, and some of its symptoms can be similar to lupus symptoms.
Fibromyalgia can affect your whole body. Symptoms can include:
- Widespread muscle or body pain
- Fatigue (feeling tired, even after getting enough sleep)
- Sleep problems or waking up feeling unrefreshed
- Brain fog (having trouble focusing, remembering things, or thinking clearly)
- Headaches or migraines
- Anxiety or depression
- Stomach or digestive problems, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Numbness or tingling in your hands or feet
- Jaw or facial pain
Because many fibromyalgia symptoms are also common in lupus, it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two conditions apart. Unlike lupus, fibromyalgia does not cause inflammation or damage to your organs or joints.
Learn more about fibromyalgia by listening to a recent episode of The Expert Series here.
If you have fibromyalgia, there are steps you can take to help manage your symptoms and improve your quality of life. Working with your doctor to create a treatment plan is important, especially because fibromyalgia can affect people in different ways.
Treatment for fibromyalgia requires addressing sleep, physical movement, and depression/anxiety. It may also include medicines. Medicines can help manage symptoms such as pain, fatigue, or sleep problems. Some people may also benefit from physical therapy, counseling, or other treatments.
To help manage your fibromyalgia symptoms:
- Practice mindful stretching such as yoga and tai chi.
- Work with your doctor to determine whether your symptoms could be caused by fibromyalgia, lupus, another condition, or a combination of conditions
- Stay physically active. Gentle, low-impact activities like walking, swimming, biking, or yoga can help reduce pain and improve your ability to do everyday activities
- Start slowly and increase physical activity gradually, especially if exercise makes your symptoms worse
- Get enough sleep and try to keep a regular sleep schedule
- Find healthy ways to manage stress, such as meditation, deep breathing, physical activity, or spending time doing things you enjoy
- Try heat, massage, stretching, or other techniques that help relax your muscles and ease pain
- Pace yourself during daily activities so you don’t overdo it on days when you feel better
- Don’t smoke or spend time around people who are smoking
- Talk with your doctor about medicines that may help with pain, sleep, or other
Other autoimmune diseases that overlap with lupus
- Autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s - underactive thyroid function and Graves disease – overactive thyroid function) and other thyroid disorders. These conditions affect your thyroid gland (the butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck that makes hormones).
- Celiac disease. This is a digestive and autoimmune disorder that targets your small intestine. It’s triggered by eating food s that contain a protein called gluten.
- Myasthenia gravis. This disease causes weakness in your muscles. The weakness generally gets worse when you’re active and better when you rest.
- Antiphospholipid syndrome. This condition can cause blood clots to form and can lead to other health problems — like stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism (when blood flow to the lungs is blocked), deep vein thrombosis (clot usually in the leg), and recurrent miscarriages.
- Myositis. Lupus can sometimes cause myositis, or inflammation in the muscles — usually in the hips, thighs, shoulders and upper arms. The most common symptom of myositis is muscle weakness. When you have lupus myositis, it can be hard to do things like stand up out of a chair or raise your arms.
- Dermatomyositis. This disease is similar to polymyositis. In addition to causing muscle problems, dermatomyositis can also cause skin rashes that can be sensitive to the sun.
- Sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is a rare inflammatory disease that causes lumps of inflamed tissue (granulomas) to form in the body, most commonly in the lungs and lymph nodes.
- Scleroderma. Scleroderma is a group of diseases that cause skin to become tight, thick or hardened. It can also cause joint and muscle pain, breathing problems and kidney disease.
- IgG4-RD. This is a rare and challenging-to-diagnose diagnose disease caused by a dysfunctional immune system. Like lupus, IgG4-RD can cause inflammation in any part of the body.
- Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. A rare disease where the immune system attacks the nerves in the eyes and spinal cord, which can cause vision loss and weakness. It's important to catch early because it can mimic lupus but needs different treatment.