Generally speaking, most SLE patients have precursors before the onset of the disease, but they are often atypical and hard to be detected. The clinical symptoms are diverse, including systemic symptoms, skin and mucous membrane manifestations, muscle and joint manifestations, renal manifestations, lung manifestations and so on.
1. Systemic symptoms: fever, fatigue, malaise, lack of appetite, etc. can be seen in most patients during the active period.
2. Skin and mucous membrane manifestations: most patients may have rashes, such as zygomatic erythema with butterfly distribution, discoidal erythema, erythema of the finger-palm area and peri-nail area, ischemia of the fingertips, rash on the face and trunk, and painless ulceration of the oral and nasal mucous membranes and alopecia are common.
3. Muscle and joint manifestations: most patients often have symmetrical pain in finger, wrist and knee joints, and some patients may also have morning stiffness, muscle weakness and muscle pain.
4. Kidney manifestations: a few patients start the disease with kidney damage, and may have lower limb facial edema, hematuria, proteinuria, hypertension and so on.
5. Lung manifestations: some patients may have shortness of breath, dry cough, dyspnea and other clinical manifestations.
Early symptoms of SLE are varied and atypical. If the above symptoms occur, it is recommended to consult the Rheumatology and Immunology Department of regular hospitals in time and follow the doctor’s instructions.