22 y/o w/ joint pain and 3 miscarriages - ANA 1:1280

[K_Maye]

I'm a relatively healthy 22 y/o female(5'4" 139lbs) who began experiencing hip pain when I was 15ish y/o.
Pain has increasedf over the years, some days worse than others. Walking on uneven surfaces or up/down hill is worse.
I became very concerned about my hips 2 years ago when I got married, and found that (this is SO embarassing...) the pressure/weight of intercourse created VERY-SEVERE-PAIN during, and after, the act.
1 yr. ago I began having pain in my right foot, on the inner side of the "ball". It's constant and never stops hurting.
I had an MRI approx. 6 months ago(on foot only), which the MRI tech (or whoever the man at the machine was?) told me, through broken english, was "normal"
I had custom inserts made 5 months ago, and they haven't helped.

My ANA level, according to my records,  was elevated when I was 17-18 years of age. (1:320 &1:640)
when I was tested approx. 6 mo. ago it was at 1:1280

My doctor has told me that I'm young, and that he's not overly worried. However, I can't help but feel that such joint pain at my age could only get worse with time, and that intervention now would be beneficial.


Also, I tried for a year to get pregnant with no success, had 1 confirmed miscarriage @ 10 weeks.  (and two other faint positive home tests, with subsequent periods before I could make it into the doctor to confirm, both of which I'm confident were failed pregnancies.)

I searched my symptoms and definately think there's something immune-related going on. I'm not ready to jump into thinking it's lupus... but at this point, I just have no idea.

I know that immune problems can effect a person's ability to sustain a pregnancy... Could they be related, and should I be worried either way? What should I tell my dissinterested doctor?

Also... I have had an unexplained weight loss of 19 pounds in 3 months... ? Unrelated...?

VERY STRONG family history of cancer, and that's about it.

[yelizavetared]

A related discussion, Miscarriage and arthritis related? was started.

[Enoch Choi, MD]

you're welcome!

[K_Maye]

Thank you :-)

[Enoch Choi, MD]

ask for a referral to an ob/gyn with an interest in auto-immune causes of infertility.

possible labs could be RA, SS-A, SS-B, and others

[K_Maye]

...overall, with joint pain (primarily hip and foot), combined with miscarriages and ANA @ 1:1280,  what should I ask of my primary care physician, who seems to be dragging his feet on the matter?

[K_Maye]

The pain during intercourse is located in my hip joints, which is why I say I'm so worried about my joints. Actual intercourse itself isn't painful, and I don't think there's anything psychological to it.

Thank you for your response.

[Enoch Choi, MD]

A year without success is long enough to start an infertility workup

multiple confirmed miscarriages is even more reason to look into reasons for infertility

auto-immune disorders can contribute to misscarriage

pain with intercourse is very complicated.  there are many different possible reasons.  you'll need to find a more empathetic and patient physician to tease apart the reasons for that problem.  both physical and psychological issues can contribute