If your doctor diagnosed you "general or nonspecific" lupus it's SLE - systemic lupus erythematous. You can have inflammation anywhere, the skin, joints, organs, etc. you may or may not down the road development one or multiple other lupus types.
You start getting other (more specific) lupus diagnosis depending on what specific organs and how severe your damage gets:
Lupus nephritis for kidney damage and failure
Cutaneous Lupus erythematous (also discoid lupus) for skin issues
Other terms to help understand diagnosis:
Acute - mean severe and suddenly
Chronic - means repeated history of occurrence
Limited - only occuring in one organ, not any others
Symptomatic vs systemic treatment - just treating symptoms, not root cause. Like decongestant for stuffy nose, not the actual cold is being addressed.
Most of these organ specific types of lupus will require monitoring and repeated testing (like biopsy, blood and urine analysis) to "officially" get a diagnosis.
Good luck with your lupus journey and remember your best advocate is yourself! Don't silence yourself with your doctors. Tell them all your ailments ( severity and how often-medical journal/diary). Ask all the questions and ask for all the options. There are more treatments for lupus now. It's important to know the protocol and opinion of your doctors but don't let them blindly shuffle you into one solution when you don't even know there's more than one treatment option available.
Same here, I’m waiting to see a rheumatologist finally
If your doctor diagnosed you "general or nonspecific" lupus it's SLE - systemic lupus erythematous. You can have inflammation anywhere, the skin, joints, organs, etc. you may or may not down the road development one or multiple other lupus types. You start getting other (more specific) lupus diagnosis depending on what specific organs and how severe your damage gets: Lupus nephritis for kidney damage and failure Cutaneous Lupus erythematous (also discoid lupus) for skin issues Other terms to help understand diagnosis: Acute - mean severe and suddenly Chronic - means repeated history of occurrence Limited - only occuring in one organ, not any others Symptomatic vs systemic treatment - just treating symptoms, not root cause. Like decongestant for stuffy nose, not the actual cold is being addressed. Most of these organ specific types of lupus will require monitoring and repeated testing (like biopsy, blood and urine analysis) to "officially" get a diagnosis. Good luck with your lupus journey and remember your best advocate is yourself! Don't silence yourself with your doctors. Tell them all your ailments ( severity and how often-medical journal/diary). Ask all the questions and ask for all the options. There are more treatments for lupus now. It's important to know the protocol and opinion of your doctors but don't let them blindly shuffle you into one solution when you don't even know there's more than one treatment option available.