I had blood work done and it showed a lab test of 2% out of the 5% for ANA..I'm scared please help!!

[sweetdreams1234]

Ihi guys I've been on the fibro forum for a while now. I just threw a question out there and hoping to get a response please.

I had a arm rash last week took benadryl and it disappear. Overnight just on my both arms I was doing gardening and noticed it an hour after.

I went to medic entre to have it checked he checked for everything and I was surprised.

He called me today said I had no problems in all my other blood tests and I meen he checked all.The only problem is 2%of the test for lupus showed up in lab work.

Just wondering if anyone else had this problem.I'm checking all signs and things still lye with fibro.I hope so..I don't seem any different except the fibro symptoms.

Any thoughts please respond.

Thanks

Sweetdreams1234.

[Purpletop]

You don't say what symptoms you have other than the rash (which could be part of lupus but could also be some random allergy). Best if you go to your GP or rheumatologist, if you have one, and discuss this with him/her - they could look at the blood tests online if you've done them through NHS and take it from there.

It isn't impossible to have both fibro and lupus, few of the forum members here have both, they can tell you more about it. Some got an initial diagnosis of fibro and then got diagnosed with lupus instead. It seems that some doctors, in the absence of blood tests indicating specific lupus antibodies, are more inclined to go with the diagnosis of fibro, than lupus.

Try not to panic yet.

[sweetdreams1234]

Hi purple top.here are my symptoms.

I have leg cramps or muscle spasms in both legs from time to time headaches come and go but on a flare day because of TMJ disorder oh boy its bad ..headpain and myofacial pain jaw locks up and can last up to a few days.I have sweating bouts ,Facial pain .tingling sensation in legs back and forth .head pressure pain or tightness.toes clamp up ,and the RLS can be terrible when it happens.

It really wasn't a rash as such just little pimples like hives on the lower of my arms.under my chin on neck,and on my shoulder closest to my back took benadryl for the first time but the hives were gone the next morning .I hope I'm OK.The lab test was Showing2% and the doctor said if it was under 5 not necessary to further test but he said he wanted to anyway.

Thank you. Sweetdreams1234

What do you think?

Just wondering!!

[Purpletop]

All your symptoms can also be present in lupus - actually, given the absence of wide spread pain, of sensitivity to pain and of sensitivity to medication (which are main fibro indicators), I'm surprised you've been diagnosed with fibro and not with lupus. As for the rash - I had it too before I was diagnosed. Mine went away after 2 days of antihistamine but it is an indicator of overactive immune system. I'm not sure what the 2% and 5% mean - that's not how blood tests indicate lupus, so I have no idea what he means by those.

There is no point speculating because I can only give my view as a lay person who doesn't have your full medical history. It may be that you've been correctly diagnosed and that you now exhibit new symptoms outside the original diagnosis. It may be that the original diagnosis was incorrect and in fact a lupus diagnosis is more appropriate. I don't know and I can't say one way or the other. A rheumatologist is best placed to make the assessment.

One thing I would say, however - fibromyalgia doesn't respond to steroid treatment but lupus does. It would be a simple trial to do, take few weeks of steroids at low dose (say starting at 15 mg, then going down to 10mg, then 5 mg and so on) and see how you feel as a result. If your systems improve as a result, then there is an indication that you have an inflammatory disease. Fibromyalgia isn't an inflammatory disease, so it would respond to steroids and your symptoms would remain the same.

I cannot stress enough the need to see a specialist in this - we can only suggest things based on our experiences but we do not know everything and we're not (at least I'm not) trained to assess properly and advise.

For your peace of mind, go see a lupus specialist. And don't panic - lupus can be controlled by medication to a large extent in many cases, try not to think the worst already.