Scared

My daughter, who is 14, has been presenting with symptoms that are making me think of Lupus. She already had damaged kidneys from a birth defect that was corrected when she was 2, but before it got corrected her two kidneys were damaged giving her the function capacity of one kidney. This would be fine if she remained healthy, but now she is experiencing UTI symptoms and kidney pain with no infection. She is going on to her fifth week of missing school. She has had the butterfly rash, headaches, stomache ache, fatigue, photosensitivity, and now the muscle and joint and kidney pain are so bad that the Tordal that she was taking for pain no longer works. I have a step sister with Lupus,who has three percent kidney function and goes to dyalisis, almost lost her leg from a shaving cut, and has two young children.

Now what? Where do I go from here? Who would be the specialist best to address this problem and help my daughter to lead as normal a life as possible? We have already had a urologist blow us off, but I am going to ask for a new doctor because neither I nor my daughter liked this doctor and felt that she wasn't listening.

I am just venting because I have not told my husband or my daughter my suspician. I am worried about their reaction. What would the stress of this knowledge do to my daughter right now?

Thank for listening and any advise would be welcome.