positive ANA

Hello,

Few of my joints hurt occasionally.
My blood test returned: positive ANA, speckled pattern (all other arthritis tests are normal).

Two years ago, I had negative ANA, so I assume I'm not in that 2.5% of healthy population with positive ANA?

My main question is: could this test result be at all related to me taking echinacea pills once in a while (with flu season around, I like to take it every few days)?

Thank you!

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

Dear Lisa,
I know you are aware of the ANA full form (ANA-Anti Nuclear Antibodies).
ANA positive (High Titre)  means that chances of Auto-immune disease are high in these population.But this doesn't means that you a not healthy.You are as healthy as the others.What you need to do, is visit a Rheumatologist or an experienced GP soon, so as to go for more diagnostic test to rule of the auto-immune diseases.
Reason is that, the chances of Auto-immune diseases like lupus,RA,SLE present, so we need to start active treatment of the same.
Feel free to ask us more.
Regards..