The ANA test is not the be all and end all for detecting autoimmune diseases. Beware of this mentality. You may have antibodies that are different & a test for your specific antibodies has simply not been invented yet. I have beau coup autoimmune diseases out the wazoo. For decades! I'm 71 & only RECENTLY FINALLY got a positive ANA result. Something else bugs me about the ANA being the "gate-keeper." Anti-NUCLEAR antibodies are antibodies that appear in the NUCLEUS. Most autoimmune diseases appear in the *cytoplasm* NOT in the nucleus. Why on Earth then is the ANA the gate-keeper? "Well, your ANA is negative so it's pointless to test for anything else. You don't have any autoimmune diseases." Say what?? You gotta be kidding me. Doctors, what's wrong with y'all?? If doctors refuse to think outside the box, if doctors refuse to think that just maybe they are zebras & not horses hoof beats, when doctors refuse to test for it, well guess what--"you can't detect it if you refuse to suspect it"--then this 71 year old who was told for decades "there's nothing wrong with you" & now has been found to have 5 serious birth defects & so many rare autoimmune diseases that they want to test my genome but refused to believe me or test me to the point where I've already got one foot in the grave & am trying to decide on the color of my box--I have this to say to y'all hard-headed doctors--I look forward to the day when you are all OBSOLETE & have been replaced by Artificial Intelligence.