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Positive ANA

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Posted 3/15/2012 5:02 PM (GMT 0)
My blood work came back with a positive ANA, nucleolar pattern. First time for me. I was checking on other HW forums and a moderator on the hepatitis forum said Lyme patients get a positive ANA.

That result, combined with a weak positive anti smooth muscle antibody (liver?) and a heart rate that is a bit too low seems to be stressing me out.

You'd think with over ten years experience as a sick person, I'd let little problems like this go in one ear and out the other. :-\

Thank you for your input as always.
Posted 3/15/2012 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
Spaz,

I replied to you on the hep forum as well - im not stalking you or anything! I have heard of quite a few with raised ANA patterns related to lyme but you are the first, other than myself, to have raised ASMA hence my excitement..... sorry if that sounds weird.

Mine started at 80 titre about a year ago, around a year and a half after infection. At the time I didnt know about LD and in combination with a bunch of other symptoms (swollen feet, vasculitis, rashes) feared AIH/ SLE etc. Although the rheumatologists I saw at the time agreed there was something wrong, and I was sent for an abdominal ultrasound, they couldnt work out what and I was given the label of 'a questionable connective tissue disorder'. I have since been diagnosed with lyme.

My ASMA increased to 320 over the summer but has subsequently decreased back down to 80 following treatment with doxy. My ALT levels have also been raised, upto 90. This is isolated with all other LFT's remaining normal, which I believe is quite common.

The antibody tests respond very slowly - so repeat testing over the course of 3-6 months is recommended. I'm not sure if the titre tracks (with a lag?) the course of the infection but its certainly reversible.

Hope this helps.

Hugh
Posted 3/15/2012 7:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Hugh, this is very exciting, I agree. I just ranted away about Lyme treatment in a

previous post, got myself all agitated about the Lyme Miseries to no avail.
No worries, I am glad you responded!

So weird, my ANA was 1:80 nucleolar pattern. AMSA was 1:20 (both low)....

I am such a spaz, I confused the anti-Sm with the AMSA. So when the result showed a positive ANA, I brought my GP a copy of the 2006 report: AMSA 1:20
I was thinking it would be helpful the doc, because my previous GP suspected lupus. Little did I know, before researching, that I was venturing down a scary path. ;-)

So, my liver enzymes have always been normal, with the exception of the Gamma GT which was elevated last year. Not highly elevated, but I think the Canadian values are different.

Oh yes, do you know your ANA pattern? The nucleolar pattern, I read, can show up in SLE in low titers.

I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 10 years ago, then Lyme in 2008. I have tried oral abx over the past four years, with no lasting improvement. I was on minocycline for the past couple of years. I stopped minocycline in mid Feb 2012.

I was on Plaqeunil for a few years, too. I stopped it mid 2011. I am trying to assess if Plaquenil helped me, and in retrospect I think it did.

What are your sx? Mine are joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, muscle weakness, intermittent low grade fevers, and bouts of moderate to severe nausea.
Posted 3/15/2012 7:54 PM (GMT 0)
PS: A smart Lymie I know told me that minocycline is used to modulate AI diseases, and abx also have a slight anti inflammatory effect. I have noy tried doxy, but it is in the same class of abx.

The concern is that "anything steroid" is contraindicated in Lyme. But Plaquenil can help with connective tissue disease and is also used as a cyst buster for thr Lyme spirochete.

Cara

Post Edited (spaztick) : 3/15/2012 1:57:59 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/15/2012 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
The first lab abnormality to ever come up for me was my ANA - my doctor at the time paired it with my low thyroid hormone levels and assumed it was caused by an autoimmune thyroid condition, although in retrospect it was likely the Lyme.

I forget which, but there is one band that is supposedly highly indicative of an autoimmune component in Lyme (which happens to be one that came back highly positive for me!).

I had a similar experience with Plaquenil - it seems like it was working (I had to stop taking it for a while because I've had to stop taking everything to get testing done) and I wonder if it's because it's busting open the cysts, or because it's working against my autoimmune issues. My sister has been on it for a while now, for UCTD, and it's helped her a lot. A very interesting drug, indeed.
Posted 3/15/2012 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Cara,

My ANA is negative along with all the others on the autoantibody panel, its just the ASMA that shows up so far.

Interestingly enough the ASMA are commonly linked with AIH and viral infections. Indeed what I forgot to mention before was that the differential diagnosis I was given to AIH in the early stages was glandular fever or mono - It certainly seems conceivable that 'an infection' is the cause!

My symptoms are many....fatigue, sinusitis, SOB, back pain, muscle weakness, sore throat, vasculitis, polyneuropathy in my feet, swollen feet, tinitus, headaches, visual disturbances, temperature fluctuations, upper quad RHS abdo pain, nausea....... the list goes on an on.

And yes I agree, doxy definitely has anti inflammatory properties.

Hugh
Posted 3/16/2012 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
I have noticed lately that some LLMDs are changing their minds on the use of plaquenil in lyme.  Eva Sapi states in this paper:

http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2776

that plaquenil may induce cyst formation.  Plaquenil is used as a immunosupressant for lupus, immunosupression we do not need.

Posted 3/16/2012 4:27 AM (GMT 0)
Hmm. I don;t know much about Ana and Lyme. My ANA and all related tests (ESR, etc etc) have all been negative every time they've tested, and they've tested a lot. In fact, my doctor thinks it is odd that I have so much joint pain but no inflammatory markers...

so, sorry! I can't help, other than to say I think that sometimes we rely on tests too much. If you don't know the exact cause of an illness, it is hard to claim that you can test for it. So I think it is possible lyme could cause a positive ANA...or Lyme could cause a disease that then causes whatever causes a positive Ana
Posted 3/17/2012 1:02 AM (GMT 0)
My ANA has been elevated for years. So is my C-Reactive protein. I'm guessing they're both related to the Lyme
Posted 3/14/2015 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
Positive ANA titers also for LUPUS.
Plaquenil helps sx for patients with LUPUS.
Those sx you listed are lupus sx, also.
Posted 3/16/2015 4:06 AM (GMT 0)
I had Systemic Lupus for over 15 years and my ANA was always
high. It started at 1280 and even went to 2560 and now it is in remission--TG!!! I was taking prednisone, plaquenil and flexeril for many years. So when I was still sick they checked for a return of lupus but it was lyme.

So it is tricky!! Hope you have a wise doctor who can order the right tests.
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