Thanks Michele ... I can't believe you got twelve vials of blood drawn. I had four taken a couple times recently and had a tough time making it to my car, so hopefully they won't need tons. On the other hand, I do want them to be thorough, so I guess if they need that much blood then I'll give it willingly. A doctor's office is a good place to pass out, after all.
As for my symptoms ... I went to my doctor initially complaining about really bad fatigue and joint pain. On a "normal" day the joint pain isn't bad, I just feel sore and stiff and creaky, but if I try to do anything remotely strenuous, the pain starts getting bad. It's worst in my elbows, wrists, and hands -- my knees bother me too (and actually hurt a lot right now). My fingers also swell up, nothing too bad though. And a little activity goes a long way -- I worked on scraping paint off woodwork a couple days ago and I still feel miserable today.
I do have a moderately bad case of endometriosis, which does cause fatigue and greatly contributes if not causes a lot of lower back pain (it gets unbearable during my period). So, this clouds the waters a bit.
My GP got all lupus-suspicious about a rash I had, but it was on my toe and not a typical lupus spot so I'm not that worried. It did show up when I was feeling really awful and faded away when I started feeling better, but could be a coincidence. I can definitely identify with several lupus symptoms, but since they're also symptoms of thyroid issues I'm not that worried. I guess the only thing that might be lupus-only and not thyroid is that I've been having problems with swollen lymph nodes for awhile, but maybe that could be explained by something else too.
I've also been having breathing problems and my chest really hurts when I try to breathe deeply, but chest x-rays looked OK and all of my allergy tests were negative (except very very very mild reaction to dust/cats) and I don't have asthma, so my pulmonologist is confused on that score. I know from what you're going through that you can have breathing/chest problems with autoimmune disorders, but unless I am mistaken this kind of thing should show up on chest x-rays, so I am going to assume that this is a different problem.
Basically, I am 24 and I feel like I am about 74, and I'm sick of it! 
Okay, so that was a novel. Whew! I'll be seeing the rheumy on Monday with tidy toenails and shaved legs -- any other tips/advice you can think of would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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Re: lupus/RA -- what to expect/ask rheumatologist?
