Does a very high speckle pattern result mean lupus?

Have been seeing a new Dr. for my scoriatic arthritis. I have been on 1000 mg of hydroxyvhloroquin for around 10 yrs now. My speckled pattern is 289 and should be around 40. All of my ra tests come back negative. I have many, many symptoms. Do people with lupus have a very high speckled pattern result? I am in the USA.

[nanleighh]

You need to find out what kind of auto antibody you have. Part of the diagnosis of any autoimmune disease is the type of auto antibody, along with symptoms and other testing is how they diagnose. There are criteria that they follow for the diagnosis. There are many good pamphlets on lupus UK’s Website, You can also look up John’s Hopkins or Mayo clinic they have good information on diagnosing lupus. I don’t know much about psoriatic arthritis, but I’ve never heard of anyone being up that high of a dose of hydroxychloroquine. I hope you were being followed by an Eye MD. The best of luck to you, Nan

[Lexilourue]

Do you by any chance mean psoriatic arthritis? I'm not trying to be funny I'm just thinking maybe it's something I've never heard of. I have both Ankylosing Spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis along with Sjogren's syndrome and probable lupus. I don't know what probable lupus means LOL all my blood work comes back positive for Lupus every time they test it, but since there's 12 criteria they can't really access it because they overlap with the symptoms of my as and psoriatic arthritis. I had Ankylosing Spondylitis for almost 30 years before I was diagnosed. My SI joints were already fused after Decades of horrible sciatica, and I was already fused from T12 to C1 and bent! I diagnosed myself finally. I just kept typing in groups of symptoms on Google until I finally stumbled onto ankylosing spondylitis. I was in my late forties and I sat there and cried like a baby! I have been in pain since my twenties lived most of my twenties and thirties with the worst sciatica and getting every kind of treatment in the world for it and none of it helped! Unfortunately I had a bulge disc at L4 L5 and my doctors thought horses and never thought zebras! However, my brother had full-body psoriasis and the worst psoriatic arthritis any doctorate scene in Three states! He had to have both feet deboned when he was 32 years old because the joints in the toes and balls of his feet had it wrote it to the point the bones were free floating! He had his thumbs reattached twice and he passed away in his sleep three weeks after his 50th birthday. He had to wear braces on his wrist because the wrist joints were gone and his hands were held on with skin and tendons and ligaments. The doctors won't reattach your hands because you can't even wipe your own butt if you can't swivel your hand. At the time of his death the other four fingers on both hands were at a nearly 90 degree angle because the joints that held his fingers on to the hands were gone. I can't imagine the pain that kid was in, but it should have been a clue as to what was going on with me. I also had irritable bowel and after about two years of all kinds of tests they decided it was the metformin I was taking. Now, at 50 plus I have a diagnosis of irritable bowel disease

[Lexilourue]

I can't imagine they would have you on Plaquenil for psoriatic arthritis. Here in the states they only prescribe that for lupus and Sjogren's syndrome. I say only, I mean only the diseases I know about LOL

[milkwoman]

I'm a little confused by the test result - do you have the actual printout of the result (test name, result, lab range, notes)?

Did you mean 100 mg of hydroxychloroquine? 1000 mg would be an extremely high dose as tozicity is always a concern.

Are you seeing a rheumatologist? Have you ever had a full blood work up?

[Hidden in reply to milkwoman]

Yes I have the print out of all of my test results. The speckled pattern test should be 40 or less. I have been seeing a rheumatologist for the past 10 years. Im so glad everyone let me realize the mistake that I made in the dosage I take. I take 200mg 3x each day (for the last 5 months), when I go back in June she will be dropping me back to 200 mg 2x per day which I have always taken. When my Neurologist saw this test result he said "Oh! You've been diagnosed with lupus!!! He was very excited to see a diagnosis for all of my symptoms that 3 different neuros, 2 different neuro surgeons and my primary Dr have been trying to figure out for the last 9 yrs. As I have a benign pineal glad tumor which is very large they claim none of my symptoms can be caused by it. They said I will continue to get worse and sooner or later the disease I have will show itself and only then they will know what it is. Im tired of not knowing what is wrong with me, it has been a 9 yr long nightmare.

[Chanpreet_Walia LUPUS UK]

Hi Cmf18,

We are not medically trained here therefore, we cannot comment on what your test results may indicate. Have you thought about booking an appointment to discuss them with your doctor?

What types of symptoms are you experiencing? We offer a wide range of publications on lupus and certain topics which you can browse through here: lupusuk.org.uk/publications/

There are specific tests and criteria that need to be met in order to make a diagnosis of lupus.

An ANA test gives an indication on whether a person may or may not have an autoimmune condition. It does not provide sufficient evidence to confirm a diagnosis of lupus. dsDNA antibodies are very specific for lupus (as they are not typically seen in any other condition or in healthy population). For more information on how a diagnosis of lupus is made, please click here: lupusuk.org.uk/getting-diag...

Please let us know how you get on, wishing you all the best.

[Hidden in reply to Chanpreet_Walia]

Thank you