Lab Results

[skbird]

Well, I got the ANA titer and pattern back - 1:160 (one notch lower) and nucleolar again. I know this doesn't necessarily mean much. My hands and feet have calmed down though. But my chest pain is getting more and more constant - used to be bursts of pain out of the blue - once or twice a week. Now it's daily and not as intense, but things like lying on my right side for a while will start the pain in my left so I have to roll on my back [on edit - d'oh! repeating myself...]. Or laughing a certain way. Or breathing a certain way. Oh well...

The rest of the lab tests I think went to another lab so they are taking longer to come back. Suspense...

Thank you for your thoughts. It's finding people on the web who go through these things that make it less scary/weird/alienating. I am much more certain things will be ok, whatever happens.

Stephanie

[Guest jhmom]

Hi Stephanie,

Your ANA is positive and certainly worth checking into by your rheumy. Let me know what the other labs say. You are welcome, I am happy to help in any way I can, I've been there, been through 3 doctors until I found one that would listen to me and take ALL my symptoms serious! A good way to find a good Rheumy is check with your local Lupus Chapter website and they should have a list of physicians and of course sometimes it's by trial and error.

Here is some info on ANA patterns:

The pattern of the ANA test can sometimes be helpful in determining which autoimmune disease is present and which treatment program is appropriate.

The homogeneous (smooth) pattern is found in a variety of connective tissue diseases as well as in patients taking particular drugs such as certain anti-arrhythmics, anti-convulsants or anti-hypertensives. This pattern is also the pattern that is most commonly seen in healthy individuals who have positive ANA tests.

The speckled pattern is found in SLE and other connective tissue diseases,

while the peripheral (or rim) pattern is found almost exclusively in SLE.

The nucleolar (a pattern with a few large spots) pattern is found primarily in patients who have scleroderma.

Take care

[skbird]

I think the rheumy I went and saw is pretty cool. I only have seen him once so far but he knew a lot of stuff about gluten even, which surprised me. I am seeing him again on August 5th so I should have some more info to work with there.

Believe me I scared myself sh*tless worrying about scleroderma but I don't think that's what I have going on. I have read that nucleolar is also associated with Sjogren's syndrome so maybe there's something there. I don't know. I do know that I seem to have 3-4 symptoms of several connective tissue diseases, and add in the ANA it seems like something is going on. But none of it is very intense, which could be something to do with my diet of no gluten or nightshades or just that I'm in early stages of something. I'm feeling more optimistic about everything than I was a couple of weeks ago though so that's a big help at this point.

I'll post my other results when I get them and/or send you an email.

Thanks again!

Stephanie

[julie5914]

Just found this topic and wanted to fire it up again. I got an ANA test back positive at 1:160 with a speckled pattern. I also have Raynaud's. My doc is running more tests, but he said he really has no idea what it could mean yet, if anything. He said usually you need a higher titer to be referred to a rheumy.

My neck is bothering me a lot. It feels swollen and my muscles are sore a lot, esp. in the morning. Did anyone here ever find anything more about this stuff? I definitely don't want him to say lupus, but at the same time, I would love to have my muscles and neck feel normal again. Maybe this is why I gained some weight? Inflammation? It all started when I started training for a marathon. I haven't run in 6 months though and I am still stiff and sore.