Aa
SO SCARED
I AM 33 YRS. OLD IN 2005 I HAD A MISCARRIAGE AND LOST MY MOTHER TO EMPHYSEMA, AFTER BEING HER SOLE CAREGIVER FOR YEARS. I GOT SEVERELY DEPRESSED SO MY DR. PUT ME ON KLONOPIN AND PROZAC AND THEN I STARTED FEELING EXTREME FATIGUE AT THE BEGINNING OF 2006 SO I WENT BACK TO MY DR. AND HE DID TESTS AND SAID I HAD A POSITIVE ANA.I WAS TERRIFIED THINKING I HAD A DEADLY AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER OF COURSE THEY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE IT WAS. SINCE THEN I MOVED TO FL. AND LOST MY FATHER TO LUNG CANCER AND AN OLDER SISTER TO SEPSIS. I WANT TO GET PREGNANT SO I STOPPED THE PROZAC SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND AM WEANING MYSELF OFF KLONOPIN AND IM DOWN TO A HALF A PILL A DAY. STARTED SEEING A R HEMATOLOGIST DOWN HERE HE SAID IT WAS FIBROMYALGIA. DOCTOR SEEMED LIKE HE COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHICH AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE I HAD SO HE JUST SAID FIBROMYALGIA IN 2007 I HAD AN ANA COME BACK NEGATIVE.TODAY I LEARNED I HAVE ANOTHER POSITIVE ANA HOW CAN I HAVE A POSITIVE ,A NEGATIVE AND NOW ANOTHER POSITIVE IM SO SCARED MY SYMPTOMS ARE -FATIGUE,JOINT PAIN IN MY HANDS AND JUST RECENTLY SOMETIMES MY FEET,AND PAIN ALL OVER EVEN TO LIGHT TOUCH LIKE FIBRO PAIN. I ALSO HAD HYPOTHYROIDISM THATS UNDER CONTROL WITH MEDS I AM SO DEPRESSED NOW AND SCARED.PLEASE HELP IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WITH THE SAME SYMPTOMS AND NO ANSWERS TO WHAT IS CAUSING THIS. HOW DO YOU COPE IM SO SCARED OF DYING OF LUPUS OR ANY OF THE OTHER AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES GOD BLESS,JENNY
also one last thing.... which i read on another website and wanted to share: "ANA levels tend to rise when symptoms flare and they tend to fall, often being undetectable, when symptoms are mild or when patients are in remission."
Do you know what causes your hypothyroidism? Do you have Hashimotos? because that would most likely cause a positive ANA when you have a flare up.... and it CAN cause some of your other symptoms as well. Please talk with your Doctor further and if you have to see a specialist like an endocronologist (maybe even a reproductive endrocrinologist) to get some answers then do it...!!!!! You're doing the right thing by asking questions, hopefully you'll be able to find an answer soon!
Do you know what causes your hypothyroidism? Do you have Hashimotos? because that would most likely cause a positive ANA when you have a flare up.... and it CAN cause some of your other symptoms as well. Please talk with your Doctor further and if you have to see a specialist like an endocronologist (maybe even a reproductive endrocrinologist) to get some answers then do it...!!!!! You're doing the right thing by asking questions, hopefully you'll be able to find an answer soon!
Try to keep your head up, Jenny, a lot of people who have similar symptoms to yours have a hard time getting a diagnosis...Sadly, the questions you are asking here are ones that your doctor/s should be answering for you, but obviously they aren't. I'm going through something similar--although slightly different symptoms--and I can give you my opinion which is only formed through my own experiences and research (I am not a medical professional): fibromyalgia--along with it's companion "anixety"--is often used by doctor's as a cop-out when they either don't know what's wrong, don't feel like digging into finding out what's wrong, or they think you're looking for attention or depressed or suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder. I'm not saying fibromyalgia isn't real for some people, but since there is no real test for it and there has never been any real cause for it documented, it's an easy way for doctor's to explain away pain/fatigue/depression and any other symptom women suffer from. I will tell you that fibromyalgia at this point is not techincally an autoimmune disease since they
cause or factors at work for it are unknown. It would not make your ANA positive. Also, fibro involves tenderness and muscle (not joint) pain all over, without the swelling, inflammation, or joints warm to the touch that characterize autoimmune diseases like RA. Do you have swelling/inflammation? If so, are the effected joints symmetrical (the same on both sides)? That is indicitative of RA. I assume you see an endocronoligst regularly to monitor your hypothyroidism and test your T3/T4 levels? Sometimes for hypo can be overkill and turn you hyper-thyrodic. The previous poster is right, most autoimmune diseases won't kill you, and most people do take time to be diagnosed since it is so tricky. For instance, you wouldn't die of lupus per say; you could die of kidney failure caused by lupus, but if you're kidneys weren't functioning properly that should show up in urinalysis whether you had been diagnosed with lupus or not. Same with heart problems and such characterized by autoimmune disease. I would say the most important thing is to stick with a doctor or doctors who you feel actually listen to you, and don't let them blow you off. It is very hard sometimes being a female with a broad range of symptoms and no conclusive test results--often times doctor's will try to blow you off--but trust yourself, you know yourself better than anyone (M.D. or not) and you are absolutely an authority on your body and knowing when something is wrong. Good luck!
cause or factors at work for it are unknown. It would not make your ANA positive. Also, fibro involves tenderness and muscle (not joint) pain all over, without the swelling, inflammation, or joints warm to the touch that characterize autoimmune diseases like RA. Do you have swelling/inflammation? If so, are the effected joints symmetrical (the same on both sides)? That is indicitative of RA. I assume you see an endocronoligst regularly to monitor your hypothyroidism and test your T3/T4 levels? Sometimes for hypo can be overkill and turn you hyper-thyrodic. The previous poster is right, most autoimmune diseases won't kill you, and most people do take time to be diagnosed since it is so tricky. For instance, you wouldn't die of lupus per say; you could die of kidney failure caused by lupus, but if you're kidneys weren't functioning properly that should show up in urinalysis whether you had been diagnosed with lupus or not. Same with heart problems and such characterized by autoimmune disease. I would say the most important thing is to stick with a doctor or doctors who you feel actually listen to you, and don't let them blow you off. It is very hard sometimes being a female with a broad range of symptoms and no conclusive test results--often times doctor's will try to blow you off--but trust yourself, you know yourself better than anyone (M.D. or not) and you are absolutely an authority on your body and knowing when something is wrong. Good luck!
It sounds like you've been though a lot in the last few years! I'm sorry to hear of your losses.
Many times hypothyroidism can go hand in hand with fibromyalgia. What were your thyroid levels? sometimes a Doctor will tell a patient that their numbers are with in range and a patient will still experience symptoms.
By the way i have Hashimoto's Tyroiditis and sometimes my ANA tests come back positive and sometimes negative also!!! Same thing with my brother; he has Celiac disease (gluten intolerance) but his antibody test came back negative... so did his antibody thyroid tests and he has Hashimoto's too. Sometimes it's hard to pin-point the exact source of a problem since for many people with one autoimmue disease, it can go hand in hand with others, and sometimes they play off of each other.
Ask your doctor which tests you received and which problems he/she ruled out and why. I keep copies of my bloodwork when i want a second opinion or when i want to look into things myself.
Pain all over and pain to the touch sounds very difficult to deal with. I definitely think you should continue to press your doctor/s for answers. Until you have some answers, you should try and relax a little, as difficult as that may seem. Until you know what is wrong it's probably best not to freak yourself out too much! Many of these autoimmune disease can be a pain in the butt but most of them are not life threatening.....
Good luck to you & keep us updated
Jen
Many times hypothyroidism can go hand in hand with fibromyalgia. What were your thyroid levels? sometimes a Doctor will tell a patient that their numbers are with in range and a patient will still experience symptoms.
By the way i have Hashimoto's Tyroiditis and sometimes my ANA tests come back positive and sometimes negative also!!! Same thing with my brother; he has Celiac disease (gluten intolerance) but his antibody test came back negative... so did his antibody thyroid tests and he has Hashimoto's too. Sometimes it's hard to pin-point the exact source of a problem since for many people with one autoimmue disease, it can go hand in hand with others, and sometimes they play off of each other.
Ask your doctor which tests you received and which problems he/she ruled out and why. I keep copies of my bloodwork when i want a second opinion or when i want to look into things myself.
Pain all over and pain to the touch sounds very difficult to deal with. I definitely think you should continue to press your doctor/s for answers. Until you have some answers, you should try and relax a little, as difficult as that may seem. Until you know what is wrong it's probably best not to freak yourself out too much! Many of these autoimmune disease can be a pain in the butt but most of them are not life threatening.....
Good luck to you & keep us updated
Jen
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