Posted 12/15/2019 8:00 PM (GMT -7)
Where are you located at? If here in the USA, the end of February is too long to wait, you should be able to get an appointment within 4-6 weeks with most rheumatologists. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with wait times in other countries.
Don't try to diagnose yourself. If you go to a Dr and say "elephant", he is only going to think about an elephant. If you say, my tail is skinny and my skin is dry, (that is, list your symptoms) he can think about things and find your TRUE diagnosis. You may not have Lupus! It looks like a lot other things. Even when you read the symptom list something like "raised red rash" -- well, take photos of any rash you might have. Show the Dr - when, where, what duration, what were you doing, etc. There are lots of raised red rashes around that are NOT the lupus rash!
I know how discouraging it is to not feel well and not have a diagnosis. I'd never heard of Lupus when it was first mentioned to me -- but the relief of simply knowing something really was wrong and I wasn't bat crap crazy was such a huge relief I almost didn't care WHAT the diagnosis was -- someone believed something was wrong!! WooHoo!
Between now and then, make notes of any times you feel unwell. How are you feeling, what is the symptom, what have you been doing, does anything seem to alleviate the pain/condition/symptom...all that kind of stuff are clues the Drs use to figure it out.
When you see the rheumy, avoid using words like lupus, fibro, autoimmune.... talk about what your body has been doing, using non-medical terms. Whole body ache, or joint is heavy, sore, and hot -- you get the idea?
Hang in there.