MS and ANA and ACE Tests - Lupus or Sarcoidosis?

[srohrer]

Hello. I posted this on the undiagnosed community and then realized maybe it was more appropriate on the MS medical community.

After almost 24 years, I have finally received a diagnosis of MS from my neurologist and received three days of IV steroids, which helped somewhat, but not as much as I had hoped, with some of my symptoms.  I was to start receiving treatment with some of the MS drugs the following week, but when I went for my appointment, my neurologist told me that my ACE and ANA tests both came back high and he wants me to go see an autoimmune specialist and a rheumatologist.  He mentioned something about possible Lupus or Sarcoidosis.  He spoke briefly about a combination of MS and Lupus???  My ACE test came back elevated a couple of years ago and I have been tested for Lupus and Sarcoidosis in the past and was told I don't have either.

My question is if anyone who has been diagnosed with MS has also had elevated ANA or ACE blood tests.  I have done a search on line and have found limited info on these blood tests, which indicates that MS patients can have elevated ANA and ACE blood test results, but I have not actually found anyone who has this. Could I have more than one disease?  I would really like to only have one disease at a time....thank you very much!  :)  

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Ojibajo]

I had a high ANA and I also have the butterfly face rash occasionally so they are just keeping an eye on it for the time being.

[HVAC]

I had a high ANA they did an anti DNA and that ruled out Lupus. I had no symptoms of Lupus so I was not worried it was lupus. I was told a high ANA just means high inflammation. That made sense because I had a lot of inflammation in my CSF when they did my lumbar puncture. They often rule out Lupus when looking at MS.

It is possible to have more than one autoimmune illness. I would not worry about it until they decide it is so. Often they are just being thorough. In my case it just meant I had had MS a long time.

Alex

Alex

[wiggles94]

I am possible MS - gray area patient - also have high ANA - rheumy did additional tests, and they came back negative for other autoimmune diseases - such as lupus.  Some just have high ANA - and it doesn't necessarily mean anything - Good to have it looked at though.  Good luck to you.

[Sidesteps]

*waves hand* Limbolander here. I hope someone here that has a couple different auto-immune diseases will chime in.

This is what I know. Yes, you can have more than one. In fact, it's not uncommon for a couple of them to run together. I do not know the percentage of people who have dual auto-immune diseases.

My Neuro has mention Sarcoid when I informed her that I was tested and it was negative for me, she let me know that Sarcoid can ONLY be definitively determined with a biopsy. To make it more complicated, you can have a very case of Neuro-sarcoid where it doesn't attack the rest of your system.The problem is that would mean a biopsy of a lesion in my brain (course, in my case, they have to find the lesions first, lol) Most don't want to risk a brain biopsy for a definitive diagnosis.

I also know that even if you are ANA positive it doesn't mean you have Lupus. It's a screening test and then to test for Lupus there are more specific tests where they look for certain markers.  My Mom and sister are ANA positive - my Mom has most of the Lupus markers but not all of them so they don't think she has Lupus. (She's been told she has another auto-immune disease that is unknown. She would have to go to the East Coast for testing. (?) My sister is ANA positive and has enough markers for RA that they are monitoring her in 3 month intervals. On the other hand, I am ANA and ACE negative but my Neuro wants me to see a Rheumy just to be sure something isn't hiding in the background.