What does a Postive ANA test mean?

[shawn86]

Hello, I posted this in the lupus area, so I just wanting to post it here to see if anyone can help me out. Thanks
Hello everyone, I am a 23 year old mother of two. I have been having severe joint and muscle pain for over a year, I went to the dr and had test done, I had 3 positive ANA tests, I don't have MS, Schjorns disease or mixed connective tissue disease. I have lupus in my family and although I don't have the rash, but I have chest pain and numbness throughout my body. I have trouble walking at times as well. My doctor sent me to the nearby hospital and I had the same test done as well. They came back the same. I have to wait on a referral to a specialist. I just want to know what could possibly be wrong with me. I also have these small bumps that have been appearing on my arms and legs. I have heard that you have to have a rash but my cousin( has lupus) didn't get the rash until her dr diagnosed her and didn't explain the severity of her condition, in which she stressed out. I also forgot to mention I am african american and the dr said not everyone gets the rash. My dr thinks it lupus but of course he's a family dr and not 100% sure. Any suggestions

[Lori707]

By all means, go see a rheumatologist. I've been to 5. It's hard to diagnose some of these diseases. Two rheumys said I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and 3 said I don't. But they all diagnosed me with Inflammatory Arthritis.

I went onto an anti-inflammatory diet. No red meats, no dairy, no rye, barley,corn, processed foods, no artificial sweetners or colorings,etc. Foods that are anti-inflammatory are apples with the skin!, 1 cup of frozen strawberries and blueberries a day, etc. Go to google and search anti-inflammatory foods. View different sites. I'm on it for a year and my joint pain is so little. (except for my lower back). I'm not saying the diet did the trick but it might have. Be sure you take in enough calories and carbs. Don't starve yourself. I eat about 6-8 small meals per day. I still have my bottle of Plaquenil that I never started to take. But I have a feeling I may have to since the docs say I'm systemic and now my veins are inflammed. My ANA started over a year ago at 24 and the latest one was taken 3 months ago at 88. It seems to be climbing.

You don't have to have a rash to have Lupus. Or the rash could come out on the chest, shoulder and back area. It would be great if you get the rash and to the Dermatologist and have a biopsy. The pathology report would say a lot.

Good luck!

[mysticalmom]

I am not a doctor of any kind, I have no medical back ground at all.  Anything I know, I know because I read anything I can get my hands on googling on the internet to try and figure out my own problems.      You say you are waiting to see a "specialist".   What kind of specialist? You should probably see a rheumatologist for the joint pain to see if you have some form of arthritis.  As for the rash, a Lupus rash usually is in a butterfly shape across the bridge of your nose, and as you pointed out, if you are african american it could be hard to tell anyway.  As for the ANA, was it a titer test if so what were the numbers? Sometimes an ANA titer test can tell you more that the regular ANA.  If you have a lot of muscle pain you might want to ask about Fibromyalgia.  The thing is, auto immune disorders are when your own antibodies attack healthy tissue and cause problems.  There are so many auto-immune disorders that have similar symptoms that it may be hard to put a name to whatever is wrong.  But no matter what it is you have to realize that putting a name to it is not what's important - feeling better is.  Your rash could be simply caused by all of your stress and have nothing to do with anything else.  A year ago I started having problems with joint and muscle pain, I work for the Post Office, so it was making my job very difficult for me, I was taking a lot of OTC pain killers just to get through the day, which were pretty much destroying my stomache. In November I saw a rheumatologist who diagnosed Inflammatory Arthritis "secondary to an autoimmune disorder".   I am seeing several doctors for different symptoms and we think it may be lupus but we're not sure,  I started on medication to help the joints.  I also had 5 bulging discs, so in January I went to a chiropractic/physical therapy clinic.  Sometimes all you can do is treat the individual symptoms. They use physical therapy to teach you exercises to help alleviate the joint pain and control it yourself.  Instead of pain pills I use a combination of chiropractic adjustments, exercises, heat, and cold.  I haven't taken pain pills in almost 6 months so my stomache is much better, but I do still take Celebrex and Plaquenil for the joint pain. Silly as it may seem, changing your diet may help, try eliminating certain things to see if that does anything for you (especially soda, caffiene, too much sugar and too much wheat), drink more water, eat more veges and fruit.  Basically, read whatever you can so you can become more informed, but don't panic yourself into thinking that you have everything you read about.   Usually auto-immune problems aren't life threatening and can be controlled if you put your mind to it.  Be positive.