How many here have a positive ANA?

I have a positive ANA, but I don't know if it was positive when I was diagnosed with CFS. In addition to CFS I have been diagnosed with lupus. I don't remember what my titer was, but it wasn't extremely high. I know you are in the process of getting a diagnosis. If I remember right you were going to start prednisone - have you tried it yet and has it helped?

How much prednisone are you taking? Some of how you feel will depend on the dose you are on. ALso some depends on when you take it. I take mine in the morning because if I take it later in the day it interferes with my sleep and by taking it in the morning I ususally have a little burst of energy early in the day. You should start to notice some difference pretty soon. I don't think it will help much with weakness though - that might be a separate issue. It mostly helps with pain and fatigue. I still have pain and fatigue, it is just not nearly as bad while I am taking prednisone.

I'm taking 10 mg x the last 2 days. The first day I only took 5 because I was afraid of how I would react. I definitely have more energy and my pain is better - I did 20 minutes of yoga this morning which I was not able to do 3 days ago - but now I feel drained. My weakness is more like muscle fatigue - if that makes any sense. You know how you feel if you have been lifting something heavy (remember when!) and your muscles feel fatigued afterward - that is how I am feeling most of the time for the last several weeks. Another example is when you have the hell scared out of you and you have an adrenaline let down afterward and you are kind of shaky and weak. When most people say they are fatigued - does it mean they are tired?

The energy increase and pain decrease is similar to what I experience on prednisone, but I also can get worn down and have bad days, especially if I have pushed myself too much or done too much. That's an interesting question about fatigue - I think it means both tired like sleepy and also that your body feels exhausted and it's hard, if not impossible to do much. I have a similar experience when I exercise. Even light exercise takes a lot out of me and I usually need to rest. I started on 10mg of prednisone but can't go below 7.5 mg without starting to feel awful. My goal was to be down to 5mg by this month, but it's not going to happen. I see my rheumy in Dec and will talk to him about it then. As far as ANA's go, I have heard differening opinions. Some doctors think the numbers have to be fairly high to indicate lupus, other docs say that a positive ANA is a positive ANA and that the numbers can fluctuate a lot. The first rheumy I saw completely disregarded my positive ANA becaus the numbers were fairly low, and he didn't take into account all of my symptoms. He said I had fibro. Fortunately the rheumy I see now sees the big picture of both my labs and my symptoms. It turns out I don't and probably never did have fibro.

just had mine done...  mine was 1:640..  could be from my lyme disease too... getting evaluated for lupus