Because lupus is a chronic illness, there is still so much research that needs to be done to learn more about this condition. A lupus diagnosis may take time because it can often get confused with rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, or other autoimmune diseases. Or various autoimmune diseases may overlap and make diagnosis difficult to pinpoint. Others may experience too few symptoms/abnormal blood tests but no symptoms. For others, symptoms may not be evident until some time has passed- or they have cycles where their illness changes from time to time (having almost no symptoms one day and facing a serious flare-up another time).