My girlfriend was recently diagnosed with Lupus. I’ve noticed that her personality had changed a lot. She gets irritated easily, happy one time and sad the all of a sudden. She also gets angry easily and she seems to have lost her usual warmth and sweetness towards me. I’ve been trying to understand that this might be the effect of Lupus or maybe the Plaquenil she started taking. Been doing my best to exert effort and extra patience. It hurts to see that she has gone cold towards me but at the same time I know that somehow this is an effect of the illness. Any similar experiences? Any suggestions/tips on how to deal with this? Your help is much appreciated. A million thanks!
Hey there, FL!!! Thanks for being patient and understanding towards your girlfriend.. it's not totally my place to say that, but I feel not everyone would be willing to do that. My suggestion is to just keep doing that. Be there for her. Keep trying to understand what she's going through. This is all new to her as it is to you, only difference is it's happening within her. And most definitely, communicate with her. I can relate to you through my relationship with myself and my family. I do find myself experiencing various emotions and mood swings and have since I was diagnosed. My thing was that I never fully acknowledged it until my sisters called me out on it and told me how I truly was. Granted, I could obviously feel my emotions that I was feeling, but I didn't realize how roller-coaster like it was and how others truly saw me. Now I communicate openly to them how I'm feeling, and though I can't say they completely understand, they do try and they at least now know what I'm feeling instead of me acting a certain way towards them for no apparent reason. Try talking to her, openly and honestly.
My mother (I help take care of her on her bad days, she tries to take care of me on mine), who I reside with says I have a lot of mood swings also. It’s comforting to know that this is a common issue for lupus patients! I’m not the only one!