You know, I think that's the hardest part - going through this kind of diagnostic H@!! alone. I appreciate everyone here for that too.

Not all skin biopsies are created equally. Do you know if they did a scrape or punch biopsy? If they did a punch, you would've had a stitch or two. Do you have a copy of the findings? I didn't think they would find anything on mine but they did, which just confused the picture in my case, however.

No one wants to be cut into a lot but it might be worth your while to get a rheumatologist in a university where they know exactly what they should be doing, including an immunofluoresence test to look for deposits. Since you've had sun-induced rashes for so long, I'm really surprised they haven't taken things a bit more seriously.

The distribution of rashes is typical of lupus. Oy. I really think you need to do some research on finding a lupus specialist rheumatologist. They ARE different.

Has anyone checked your kidney function?

The fact that an anti-inflammatory made your GI issues better is yet another huge clue.

What part of the intestines was biopsied? The small intestine or the large intestine?

You probably do have more than one thing going on. Find some more help!

Annie