ANA positive for Lupus

You have given me hope!!! That’s what I needed to hear. Thank you for reaching out to me I needed it.

Hi there .... I am 54 with 7 grandies and i totally hear you. I had a spur grow from C6 into my spinal cord and they had to remove it. Bone on Bone in so many places, total hip replacement and a cage in my neck. The only thing i find helps is Palexia Slow release morning and night... and i have fast release on stand by for those days we over do it or travelling etc. Fibromyalgia study shows Neck Trauma can cause your total nervous system to overload... think of it like this if someone else is cold I am freezing.... If someone else is tired I am completley exhausted..... every sensory touch, light, sound, goes crazy. Neuro Autoimmune they say comes from when i had Shingles, i also have lupus so given they all cross over I just throw my hands up in the air and never over do my days and have had to learn to say NO more often ... Wishing you all the best and take care

Yeah I have got to learn how to say no! I am a full time student and it’s been so hard on me going through this. I am worried that if something doesn’t change will I be able to work. Like am I doing all this schoolwork to never get to do what I want to?! I miss working out in my yard but I can’t bind over because of my back and I can’t be in the sun because it breaks me out and it’s too bright.

I started doing a Mental Health degree and decided against it. I am applying now for a pension ... I can totally recommend talking to your dr. about Tapendol/Palexia because honestly if i forget to take it... the difference if painfully huge. It has taken that edge off to be able to at least walk for a little excercise as well

I was diagnosed with lupus at 41 as I also started early menopause. I woke up one morning and my left side foot and wrist were swollen, hot. Out of the blue. After seeing a rheumatologists he put me on the malaria drug placquenile and prednisone for 9 years.

My brother needed a stem cell transplant to save his life from leukemia so they confirmed I didn’t have lupus but a general auto immune disorder attacking my joints, inflammatory responses soi was able to donate. The transplant was successful and I went off the drugs. Then started taking aleve everyday until it started messing up my acid reflux that also started at the same time of the dx. Went on acid reflux meds daily and now 25 years later am dealing with bone density issues. I continue to take calcium, vitamin d, magnesium and tissue rejuvenator by hammer that has a strong turmeric compound that is a game changer.

I wish you the best of luck. You will learn what works for you but be proactive for yourself and peace of mind.

My best advice is do your research, get a second opinion and ask uncomfortable questions until you feel heard.

When I got off wheat/gluten, my ANA went down to "0". Dr. said this was impossible, but not so. Give it about several months before testing and let us know the results of another ANA lab test.

I have the same results. And high homocysteine and tanked Ferritin levels. I’m
Exhausted !
Can’t get in with the doctors for 2 more months tho.
I ordered deeper autoimmune tests to see if I can figure more out by that time.

Hi new friend! Welcome to the special club called: Messed Up Immune System Club!!

This club has a terrible terrible entrance fee because you have to have: hair loss, muscle pain, joint pain, overwhelming fatigue that people who have never experienced it literally do not understand, weird nerve things- insert weird nerve symptoms here: everything from loss of sensation to tingling to burning sensations, what other grab-bag of terrible symptoms am I missing? You name the part of your body inside or out, and your immune system could be, without any warning, intermittently giving you symptoms. Toes randomly turning purple or having purple spots on them in totally warm weather for no reason? Check!

Is all this freaking you out? Yes, me too! I have also freaked out. Am I less freaked out 5 years in. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, for the most part, yeah. I had made my peace with not ever having a “real” diagnosis- because there is a condition called “undifferentiated connective tissue disease” where you have symptoms like lupus, scleroderma, Sjögren’s disease with a positive ANA… but…. You just aren’t quite sick enough for your specialist(s) to say that you have one of those named diseases. About a third of people go on to develop into having lupus or Sjögren’s disease, etc. within about 5 years or so. And about 65% end up staying in the undifferentiated category (it even has a diagnosis code to use).

I hung out there for about 2.5 years (after trying to ignore my positive ANA for the first two years until I felt so crappy I couldn’t anymore). And then I started getting some skin rashes and a biopsy showed that the rash was for reals lupus. That threw me for a loop again- because you know what?? It’s really mentally hard to come to terms with being sick. Even after thinking I had already done that over the past couple years! Did this “diagnosis” really, actually change anything? No, not really. It gave it a new name, but the actual amount of uncertainty about the future was always the same. Because isn’t that what we’re all really worried about- not knowing what tomorrow will be like?

You have an autoimmune condition- it doesn’t have a name yet. I hereby give you permission to name it whatever you like at this time because it might take a few years until you know exactly what you might be dealing with. I hope that your immune system begins to calm- absolutely avoid UV exposure at all costs! The sun is my mortal enemy. I don’t think I’m allowed to post my personal name for my disease here due to the level of curse words in it… hmm. Let me try with blocking it out- my personal name for my combination of too much inflammation and jacked up immune system and chronic migraines is called: Heinous F@&kery Most Foul.

p.s. please go to a rheumatologist and say: my symptoms are not being managed by my current plan of care, what are we going to do to get my symptoms under control? And if you are not the provider who can prescribe the treatment for me, who is that provider?

I had those same test and results were identical. The Lab notes stated Speckled Pattern is suggestive of Sjögren’s disease.