Lupus Support Group

Lupus is an auto-immune disease in which the immune system cannot distinguish between threats (like viruses and bacteria), and healthy cells and tissue. As a result, the body produces antibodies that inflict cell damage, most commonly targeting joints, skin, kidneys and the nervous system. Join the group and find support for coping with lupus.

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bny806 01/10/2013

Hello all! I was curious who all has swallowing "issues" with their lupus, or slurred speech ? If you do, do those symptoms fluctuate quite a bit each day? Can you explain the difficulties?

I feel like sometimes my speech is slurry (but no one else has ever noticed).. sometimes getting the food down can seem difficult as well. Pills have been hard to swallow on occasion, and those symptoms vary greatly from day to day/month to month

Thanks in advance for any advice

RichieD 01/11/2013

I've had problems with swallowing since I was in my twenties. I find it best to eat while watching TV or while reading a book on my Ebook reader. That way I'm more relaxed. I break open pills and crush tablets, then mix them with fruit juice if they taste horrible.

I do get slurred speech too at times. I find that regular rest periods during the day helps with that. And of course like everything else, it varies a lot.

deleted_user 01/11/2013

I thought my swallowing problems were sjogrens related but I imagine same problems with lupus. Slurred speech is a sometimes thing if I am very tired.

tazesmom 01/11/2013

I have a lot of problems swallowing,water is really bad,I have had my throat streached and still having problems,it scares me that I wil choke when i am alone,going back to the gi dr in a couple of weeks,Cindy

bny806 01/12/2013

Thank yall so much for your responses.. I'm sorry anyone else has this problem, but I gotta say it does make me feel better that I'm not alone in this.. I am still a medical mystery, but have a pretty elevated ANA (Is 1:860 considered significant?) The swallowing and breathing is the most anxiety provoking symtoms for me... My speech is pretty good most of the time, but at the end of the day if I dont have IVIG it can be more noticable to me, no one else thankfully! :)

deleted_user 01/21/2013

I have experienced the same symptoms. My slurred speech caused problems with me when I was working. I had problems getting my words out clearly while speaking to patients. I also had the swallowing issues usually at night when I was fatigued.

deleted_user 01/28/2013

sometimes people who don't know me ask me if i'm drunk or have trouble understanding me. it gets really frustrating.

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