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Causes Of Back Pain In Individuals With Lupus

11 May 2016

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Because lupus can affect so many different parts of your body, the disease has many symptoms and complications associated with it. Along with joint pain, you can suffer back pain for which there are numerous potential causes, which may be directly or indirectly related to the disease.

Muscle Inflammation

You can suffer back and neck pain as a result of the inflammation associated with lupus. Other symptoms include redness, muscle weakness, swollen joints, joint stiffness, and decreased joint range of motion.

Inflammation of the skeletal muscle can range in severity, affecting muscles throughout the body. Muscle inflammation associated with a chronic, autoimmune disease, such as lupus, can be so severe as to be debilitating.

Kidney Problems

Lupus can affect the function of the body's organ systems, including the kidneys. Reports estimate that about 50 percent of individuals with lupus experience some sort of kidney problem due to inflammation of the organ.

But when problems occur, it sometimes is difficult to tell the difference between kidney pain and back pain. While muscle pain often occurs lower in the back, you usually feel kidney pain higher up under the back rib cage.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia – a musculoskeletal condition that causes muscle and joint pain throughout the body – is commonly associated with lupus and other rheumatic diseases. While certain factors, including genetics, may contribute to fibromyalgia, chronic illness may trigger or make the condition worse.

Fibromyalgia pain often occurs in the neck, upper back, shoulders, lower back, and hips. The condition shares several similar symptoms with lupus, including stiffness, fatigue, and headaches, which can make treating each condition tricky. Sometimes the pain you suffer may be due to fibromyalgia and not lupus.

If corticosteroids fail to help alleviate your symptoms, fibromyalgia rather than lupus inflammation may be the cause. But if you have a skin rash, fever, and swollen glands in addition to joint and muscle pain, you are likely having a lupus flare.

Transverse Myelitis

Although it's a rare complication of lupus, transverse myelitis can cause back pain as a result of inflammation of the spinal cord. Symptoms include pain – which often is the first symptom to appear – numbness or tingling, weakness in the arms and legs, paralysis, and bowel or bladder problems.

In many cases the cause is unknown, but sometimes the disease is determined to be associated with an autoimmune disorder, such as lupus. When transverse myelitis occurs in people with lupus, the cause is related to active vasculitis (inflammation in the blood vessels) or antiphospholipid antibodies. The production of these antibodies attack certain blood-clotting factors, which can lead to the formation of blood clots in the spinal arteries. 

Degenerative Disc Disease

Like other individuals in the general population, individuals with lupus can suffer from degenerative disc disease – a condition typically related to aging. Although the progression is gradual and may cause no serious symptoms, some people suffer severe and debilitating pain.

While you may suffer back pain if you have lupus, the disease itself does not directly cause spinal disc problems. That isn't to say that you can't experience spinal disc injuries brought on by normal wear and tear on the spine or moving the wrong way, especially when lifting.   

Medications

Steroid medications, including cortisone, used to relieve lupus symptoms can produce unwanted side effects. The higher doses and long-term therapy of the drug your doctor may prescribe to control the disease can cause bone thinning and compression fractures of vertebrae in the back, which can lead to severe back pain.

For further assistance, contact local professionals, such as those from Allegheny Brain And Spine Surgeons.

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