What is Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease?

Many people are familiar with Lupus and Scleroderma. These are connective tissue diseases that are part of the diseases that are described as auto-immune. An auto-immune disease is a disease that occurs when the body's own immune system targets its own tissue as if the tissue or organ system was foreign. The way to diagnose such disease is through blood tests. These specific blood tests look for markers or antibodies that are usually present when one is dealing with a connective tissue disease. Another word for connective tissue in the body is collagen or vascular tissue.

Another common auto-immune disease is polymyositis which is characterized by painful and inflamed muscles. Aside from antibodies that are usually present in the blood a muscle biopsy can be performed to diagnose this type of disease. Lupus has become well known for the classic butterfly type rash that appears on the cheeks and nose sparing the rest of the face. Discoid lupus usually just involves the skin and the inner organs usually are not involved. Scleroderma is a disease that affects the skin causing it to become stiff and hardened. The main organs such as the heart, lungs and kidneys may become involved in all three of the aforementioned connective tissue disease. The largest organ in the human body is actually the skin. Skin biopsies are also sometimes utilized to aid in the diagnosis of connective tissue disease.

The symptoms of connective tissue disease can be low grade fevers, joint pain, muscle pain, skin rashes and extreme fatigue.Raynauds disease which causes the fingers and toes to turn blue and white in the cold very often accompanies any connective tissue disease. In some cases it takes years for a connective tissue disease to fully present itself in lab based values. This can be a trying time for a patient that is ill and looking for answers. During that time it is important to be followed by a rheumatologist. This is a specialist that deals with connective tissue diseases as well as all forms of arthritis. When a diagnosis of Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease is made it is important for the patient to understand that this is a real clinically important diagnosis. It may sound ambiguous but it is not. This diagnosis is usually made by the results of very specific blood tests. The antinuclear antibody test, double stranded DNA, Anti Sm RNP, Anti RNP and a complete blood count may all be abnormal. What these abnormal values mean is that you have some antibodies present for Lupus, Scleroderma and Polymyositis.

Are you confused yet? Let's look at it this way. Connective tissue is all the tissue in a persons body that connects anything to anything. If you want to see what it really looks like peel the skin back on a raw chicken leg. That very thin translucent membrane that covers the flesh is connective tissue. It is the same in the human body. It houses the heart, lungs, kidneys, and muscles. It actually is responsible for most of the pain a person with connective tissue disease experiences. If it hurts to take a big breath in it is most commonly due to pericarditis. That is the inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart. Breathing in deeply causes the lungs to fully expand and when the left lung crowds the heart muscle it can cause a sharp pain. Pain in between the ribs is common. The lining of the lungs can also become inflamed. Synovial tissue that is in between joints may swell and feel extremely tender.

Headaches of a new type may be related to vascular disorders due to inflammation in blood vessels. If you have been given a diagnosis of Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease you may feel like you have been invited to a pot luck supper and you are on the menu. Your immune system is eating away at your body in unconventional ways. There may be a smattering of Lupus symptoms that accompany some of the skin manifestations of Scleroderma. On any given day you may run a low grade temperature that is just enough to give you a whopping headache. Then again you may be having a great day only to get up from a chair and have your legs go out from under you. As hodgepodge as this all sounds there is treatment. Many treatment regimens begin with over the counter non steroidal anti-inflammatories. These should always be on the advice of your rheumatologist and at the dosages that he or she prescribes. If you have a more aggressive illness then Plaquenil which is an anti-malarial drug may be prescribed. Methotrexate and Prednisone are also used for intense flare ups.

Stress can exacerbate a flare up quite commonly. Unfortunately, stress is something that is pretty hard to avoid. Once you have a diagnosis and a treatment plan it helps to know your limits. Pushing yourself beyond the limits will be detrimental in the days to follow. Living with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease can be very difficult and it is important to note that depression is actually a common symptom of these illnesses. That can and should be treated in the same manner as primary depression is. As Undifferentiated Connective Tissue disease makes itself at home in your body it can sometimes differentiate after all. During the course of treatment the disease may morph into a more distinct pattern of Lupus or Scleroderma. That is why it is very important to continue with all follow up appointments. It is always wise to bring new symptoms or concerns up when you are visiting with your doctor. Keep a symptom log and include daily temperature readings as these may be very helpful to your doctor. Bring a support person with you to each appointment. When you are not feeling well it is very easy to draw a blank when the doctor is questioning you. Actually mental fog and word finding difficulties can be as debilitating as the rest of the symptoms. You know that old saying, "in old age the thing I miss the most about my youth is my mind"?

Having been living with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease for a number of years now and just recently been given a definitive diagnosis I can tell you the brain lag is a big concern. It's not fun when you have to refer to the refrigerator as "that cold thing" because you are trying to tell someone to put the milk away but you can't bring the name of the appliance up. Most of the time we all try to laugh it off. I think they humor me so I won't completely become unglued. As if that were really possible when all my connective tissue is adhering like a son of a gun and causing painful contractures. Anyway, I do recall my husband wondering aloud what I would be like when I was eighty. I told him not to worry about it too much I probably wouldn't remember who the heck he was anyway. At that point he could easily slip out the door on this crippled old thing and I wouldn't feel the slightest bit hurt. I may gloat though thinking he was just a repairman that came to fix that cold thing and left without even asking for a check.