HealthCondition CenterPersonal EssayDoctors Told Me Anxiety Was Making Me Sick, Then I Was Diagnosed With LupusBy Caitlin FlynnUpdated on May 4, 2026 at 10:40 AMGetty | recep-bgGetty | recep-bg"I'm not leaving this office until you run an ANA test and give me a satisfactory explanation for why I'm not really sick," I told my doctor, wiping away tears of frustration and distress. It was late 2017, and, after years of desperately trying to get a diagnosis for the increasingly debilitating symptoms of what we now know is lupus, I was at my wit's end.