swollen tendons in my hands

Hi. Lately I've been experiencing two frequent problems: fluid retention and sore, swollen tendons in my hands and I’m wondering two things – what could this be and is there anything that can be done to eliminate these problems? Should I avoid certain foods or take some medications? Thanks for replies!!

Fluid retention you’ve mentioned can be due to lupus. At least, that is the most common. Moreover, it may sometimes affect the resulting in edema. In longstanding lupus, premature hardening of the coronary arteries may also lead to congestive heart failure. For this, medications such as corticosteroids like prednisone, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, estrogens and dilators of blood vessels such as nifedipine can help you a lot. Sore or swollen tendons may also be due to lupus tendonitis but in some cases the tendon problem may just be due to overuse as can happen to anyone, and only rarely due to infection in an immune suppressed lupus patient. Medications that can help you with this are anti-inflammatory drugs, hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate. Physiotherapy would be very useful too.