Has anyone here tested positive for autoimmunity

I know the theory is that some of our immune system is overactive and some is underactive but im wondering if some of us have more autoimmunity going on. I notice that when i have adrenal crashes and my cortisol drops, the symptoms in my brain ease up a bit which would make me think autoimmunity. I've always tested negative for all the AI markers, though

Any specific "Autoimmunity" your wondering about, or any / and / or all of the possibilities?

Its not like there is one test for all of it. ANA is pretty generic, but many non-lymies have this too.

Thyroid antibodies are not uncommon with lyme.

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"our immune system is overactive and some is underactive" - any many have both at the same time, such as myself.

I wrote some very detailed immune testing posts. Even after lyme I still have low immune cells, but also still have one high autoimmune thyroid antibody (one did correct though).

After researching this last spring, my conclusion is: Its not uncommon for autoimmune people (even in non lymies) to have some low tested immune cells (immunoglobulins, T,B ect), most never test this though.

Im talking autoimmune antibodies (the definition of real autoimmune), im not sure what your aiming at.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a substance produced by the liver in response to inflammation, not autoimmune. I never even had that, despite all the pain I had.

RF, CRP, NMDA receptor, Acth receptor, dopamine receptor - cant really say these are autoimmune unless there are antibodies associated with them. Even conventional medicine is guessing in areas that lack found antibodies.

The NMDA, Acth, dopamine receptor stuff- those are autoantibodies against those particular receptors in your brain. They cause all sorts of crazy psych symptoms

Aerose91 said...
The NMDA, Acth, dopamine receptor stuff- those are autoantibodies against those particular receptors in your brain. They cause all sorts of crazy psych symptoms

Those are not antibodies.

Autoantibodies are: antibodies (immune proteins) that mistakenly target and react with a person's own tissues or organs.

NMDA: is an acronym for N-methyl-D-aspartate, and this amino acid derivative is very similar to glutamate.

ACTH: is a hormone which travels to the adrenal glands via the bloodstream. Cortisol from the adrenal then feeds back to the hypothalamus to shut down the cycle. Adrenocorticotropic hormone is made in the corticotroph cells of the anterior pituitary gland.

I had the ACTH test done as well. It is basically checking for a tumor - either on your adrenal glands or your pituitary. Not an actual autoimmune test though - just part of investigation

I had a normal ANA at the start of my symptoms and then about 6 weeks into my lyme treatment I had a borderline positive one. Even though the Kaiser drs seemed skeptical I had lyme, they weren't concerned about it.

k07 said...
I’ve had 2 negative ANA’s (labcorp) and 1 positive. I was not given a titer or pattern on the positive and it was a different lab.

What did your LLMD think/day about the positive?

amelie_casey said...
I recently had several positive ANAs, speckled pattern, and the AI disease i tested positive for was Scleroderma. Was referred to an rheumatology specialist who basically said 'come back if it gets worse', and didn't know heck about lyme. After going on an anti-inflammatory, super strict diet for several months along with a couple other things i had the tests redone and was negative for autoimmune. It seemed to improve with lyme treatment.
I know of at least one person who is confined to a wheelchair with the effects of scleroderma combined with lyme. It seems those two might go hand in hand.

Did the AI/anti-inflammatory diet that made the tests turn negative help you feel any better?

Aerose91 said...

amelie_casey said...
I recently had several positive ANAs, speckled pattern, and the AI disease i tested positive for was Scleroderma. Was referred to an rheumatology specialist who basically said 'come back if it gets worse', and didn't know heck about lyme. After going on an anti-inflammatory, super strict diet for several months along with a couple other things i had the tests redone and was negative for autoimmune. It seemed to improve with lyme treatment.
I know of at least one person who is confined to a wheelchair with the effects of scleroderma combined with lyme. It seems those two might go hand in hand.

Did the AI/anti-inflammatory diet that made the tests turn negative help you feel any better?

Not really. The diet was mostly avoiding everything I tested even slightly positive for on a huge spectrum allergy test (I could basically eat some meats, a few fruits and nuts, and spinach). It didn't have much effect and I was in school eating at a cafeteria at the time; there was just no practical way to maintain the diet- I ended up tired and hungry and losing weight because there were so few things I could eat (I also had swallowing problems from the lyme so meats especially were difficult to swallow.). so I redid allergy testing and found my main problems were dairy and sugar, and now just eat dairy/sugar free (even limiting fruits) and mostly gluten free. I wish a diet could solve all my problems, but so far I haven't found one that has.

amelie_casey said...


My titer was 1:160, which my doctor told me was not extremely high (they can go into the thousands) but still significantly elevated. I'd be interested what yours was? I wonder if different doctors have different ideas on what is a problematic level and what isn't; I know I've run into differing opinions from different docs on tests like thyroid.

Mine was 1:80. Either way, my doc said 1:160 was still borderline. Of course it's going to depend on the doc. My friend who is an ER doc said that she sees patients with elevated ANA all the time and doesnt think it's a big deal.

I think looking into chronic inflammation or an infection would be a good route to take. But that's just my uneducated opinion.