Positive ANA: What might be the cause?

@mctd43years Beautiful!!! I think you were talking to me. I’ve been working hard to take care of myself on bad days and do what I can with good days. Thank you for joining MayoClinicConnect!

I just asked my rheum about ANA and he said once positive always positive and cannot be lowered. If you find out more about mercury please let me know. Best, J.

No, never did. I guess I should look into it as well.

Hi there..... Thankyou so much for this comment. I am positive for this to which my surgeon explained is the marker for the Gene for Lupus .
my grandma had lupus, i have every single symptom but my test came up negative.
Am i better to have a blood test when i am in a flare, have been following it might come up as a positive then. But honestly at the end of the day all we can do is treat the symptoms.
I would love to learn from your experience if that is ok.
I am 52, one of doctors was worried i had spondylitis but that also come up negative.
Wishing you a lovely day

When I stopped eating wheat my ANA went down to "0". Doctor was surprised.

Doctors are more concerned about positive ANA with high titers and of course the pattern type. It is not a diagnosis but can be a tool for looking into autoimmune disorders.

Please help, what to think of these results, google scared me:

F20 y old, symptoms:
Joint pain, sudden drop in b12 and D3, fatique, tingling in hands and feet.

Test results: Blood count normal ( only lymphocite % count slightly elevated )
Lyme disease negative
Thyroid panel - all good
CRP, OB, Anty CCP - RF, ASO - all good

ANA 1 test positive:
titter 1:80 AC 8,9,10 nucleolar pattern
titter 1:80 AC 4,5,13,14,29 speckled pattern

Is it bad, doesn it really point towards scleroderma, as google says? I have an appointment in 2 months at rheumatologist and I am getting scared, please share your view..

Welcome @hope2005, Dr. Google can be a little scary sometimes. It can also be frustrating waiting for an appointment with a rheumatologist to get a diagnosis and start a treatment. There are several discussions in the Autoimmune Diseases group about positive ANA testing that may be helpful while you wait for your upcoming appointment. Here's a short list.

- Positive ANA’s and GI issues: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/positive-anas/
- Help! Positive ANA with swelling, joint and muscle pain and brain fog: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/help-2/
- Terrible fatigue for months, positive ANA: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/terrible-fatigue-for-months-positive-ana/
– Question on ANA and dsDNA: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/question-on-ana-and-dsdna/
– Positive ANA and ENA Panel: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/positive-ana-and-ena-panel/

Are you able to discuss the test results with your doctor while you wait for your rheumatology appointment?

Hello @hope2005,

I combined your discussion with an existing discussion titled:

"Positive ANA: What might be the cause?"
- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/positive-ana/

@hope2005 first I’m sorry you’re going through all this. I went through the same. First I’m going to apologize for this being so long. Although when I first told a rheumatologist over 10 years ago I had joint pain and swelling she just said well you’re a dog groomer you’re going to. I was around 30 and only been grooming 9 years at that point. I was very active, went to the gym, etc. She did test for Lyme that was negative but didn’t test me for too much more. Eventually went to a gastrointestinal doc which sent me for a barium. At first the person doing the test mentioned about scleroderma. When I went back the doctor said no.
Fast forward I was still having problem. Went to the doctor because I was having issues with what I thought was athletes foot. A year of that and finally went to the podiatrist that knew exactly what it was Raynauds. Finally an answer. I was having the tingling, numbness, color change but it wasn’t just from the cold the heat was making it activate. She got it under control with just topical which was great. Fast forward again to bring in my early 40’s I finally went to a rheumatologist at mayo. He ran tests and I did come back with my antibodies test positive with speckles. I ran all the other tests but everything else was negative. My Raynauds isn’t so bad I need to take medication but I can deal with the numbness, etc. He told me I had Raynaud’s phenomenon in which mine has something causing it but don’t know what yet. He said it can take years for the reason to pop up. I go to the cardiologist every year with nothing showing up. I did research to like you and thought scleroderma to. I even had a doctor at Mayo that did my nail fold test say I didn’t have it. Went back to my doctor and he said not everyone is textbook symptomatic. You can do research but don’t fall on just one thing and an ANA can come back false positive. It’s only after being tested more than once and getting positive after positive you for sure have autoimmune disease. Autoimmune can be anything from diabetes, thyroid, to Raynauds, lupus (sister has this), Mönckeberg's sclerosis (great grandmother had this), hypobilirubinemia (my other sister has this). My sister with lupus has multiple health issues but the one with bilirubin issues doesn’t and never was tested for ANA and doesn’t want to be but anything that your body fights itself is autoimmune disease.
The reason it took me so long was because I was so aggravated with doctors and didn’t push and didn’t change doctors or go to different ones. I still don’t know a cause and I’ll be 50 this year. Unfortunately some diagnoses take a long time to be diagnosed. Don’t give up and teach yourself, advocate for yourself and don’t be afraid of leaving one doctor to go to another. When doing research use medical journals, websites by doctors not webmd. I don’t know if my post helped or made it worse but hoping it helps knowing that you’re not alone. My prayers and thoughts are with you. 🙏