Help with blood work results / ANA / family history

Hi there! Going to apologize first off because I am a huge health mess and this will be long.. hoping to get some more educated opinions to weigh decisions on my next move here.

I have Lyme Disease, which has been known to cause autoimmune diseases. When I was dx'ed with the Lyme 2 years ago my ANA was positive 1:360. My rhumey suspects possible Lupus and has basically been waiting for me to get a rash to confirm. Every time I go in for our little 6 mo. check-ins his first question through the door is "Any rashes?" I know Lyme itself is considered by some to be autoimmune (it was originally "Lyme Arthritis," after all.) so I've been a bit dismissive of my positive ANA, figuring it could just be the Lyme itself causing the positive result.

about this time last year the herbal protocol that I've been on for Lyme really began working, the vast majority of my Lyme symptoms disappeared. However, I started having terrible gastrointestinal problems. By Feb of this year I was dx'ed with Celiac Disease, which has been an incredible struggle. I learned the hard way that I am a HIGHLY sensitive Celiac and every time I'd start to get the hang of cutting it out of my diet I'd develop a new food intolerance. No dairy, no soy, no corn, etc etc. No dairy and no soy are common intolerances with CD, so I didn't think too much about it. But about a month ago all of the sudden I started having emergency-grade pain when I ate anything other than potatoes, white rice or seeds. All I've been eating for a month is potatoes, white rice and seeds! It's obviously malabsorption issues, so my gastro suspects Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth. He has me on antibiotics right now, hoping it will resolve in 2 weeks and I'll be able to eat food again. He also sent me back to my rhumey to check in since some of my symptoms aren't tummy-related (flu-like muscle aches, back pain, heart palpitations/chest pain, super dry eyes, vag. dischage, ear aches, wrist pain).

Reading up on SIBO and malabsorption I stumbled on Diffuse Scleroderma info and freaked myself out a bit. But I'm also keeping in mind that there's a chance Lyme could cause SIBO as well (though there isn't much info out there about it). Blood work came in this weekend and the results posted online and the significant things were:
WBC (white blood cell count): [L] 3.9 (normal 4.0-10.0)
MPV (mean platelet volume): [H] 10.4 (normal 6.0-9.5)
ANA: Nucleolar pattern [A] 1:160 Negative

I was a bit worried about the white blood cell count and platelet counts being off, but my rhumey sent me a letter yesterday saying that he thought there was no reason to suspect a connective tissue disease and that the only thing out of range was my WBC, which he thinks is due to malnutrition. We will check again when my stomach issues are resolved and I've been able to eat. However, on this letter he has listed that my platelet count was normal. I called and left a message asking for clarification on the discrepancy between the online results and the ones he included with his letter.

I very much want to believe he's right, but my aunts and uncles aren't quite convinced. Almost everyone on my mom's side has an autoimmune disease (aunt- sjogrens, uncle-lupus, aunt-lupus) and though not dx'ed/officially confirmed, I do believe I have Raynauds as my hands and feet turn blue/into blocks of ice if the temp is less than 70 or if I'm super stressed. My aunt thinks he may be overlooking symptoms and fam history and just focusing too much on that ANA number.

I realize that I should re-test some of these things once I am not malnutritioned to see if the numbers are still off, but do you think I have cause to really suspect an autoimmune disease? I can't find any info about malnutrition causing high platelet count.. I trust my rhumey but I'm also a tad worried he could be overlooking a few things.

Thanks if you've read this mini-novel! ;-P

Hi Aquaholic. I'm so very sorry to hear of your food intolerances. That's an awful way to live. I eat gluten free and that's hard enough.

As for the lab tests, it wasn't too many years ago that platelet volume wasn't (couldn't) be measured. As a medical technologist (BS in lab) I place platelet volume in the "thanks for the info" category. Now platelet count is very important, especially if it's low. A low WBC is often caused by viruses and can change within a day or even hours. Your rheumy might also be right about the cause.

If you had a series of antibody tests run, such as anti-double stranded DNA and everything was negative, probably all you can do is wait for them to become positive. At least that's what I had to do.

I sure hope you can find some relief for all your problems. Love, Butterflake

 

I agree that going for a second opinion is in order. Having a rash is only one *possible* symptom of Lupus. Of the 11 crietria, that is one, but it is not required that you have it. Also, as for your ANA, I could be wrong, and I hope someone corrects me if I am, but I am under the understanding that 1:160 was positive, but a weak positive. I guess it depends on the lab. The majority of the time I get a 1:320 on my ANA, but one time it was negative (they didn't give the number). My rheumy (the first one I went to) said that once it is positive, then it is positive (although I have heard conflicting info about that too, hence the new rhumey).

Whatever is going on with you, I hope that you can find an answer sooner than later. :)