I have many classic lupus (or rheumatoid arthritis) symptoms inc joint pain, skin rashes esp after being in sun, tingling in fingers, fatigue and headaches.
ANA was negative but following a further set of bloods done by a private rheumatologist, he confirmed that they were all normal.
when he sent them to me, anti dsdna was 9.8 (it was actually listed as <9.8 but I assume that means 9.8?) and rheumatoid factor was 10 which are both listed as borderline from what I can see.....
Given I have many symptoms too, are those really ‘normal’ blood test results?
Written by
JFN1
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
They are results that are what is often called equivocal - not raised enough to be considered indicative of disease. The "normal range" is a set of figures obtained having measured the levels found in a large population of apparently healthy people and taken the range that includes 95% of those results. That means there are 2.5% of the population that have either levels below or above that range but are still considered healthy.
<9.8 means exactly that - the test is probably only able to measure levels above 9.8 with any accuracy so since it didn't find it was above that it is reported as "less than" but with no indication possible as to whether it is just less than or lot less than 9.8.
RF normal range in the links I checked is up to 15 or 20 depending on the lab (they vary depending on the assay the lab uses), so10 is by no means borderline although that isn't necessarily significant - there are sero-negative versons of several rheumatoid disorders. Did they check the anti-CCP? It is more reliable than RF.
All the symptoms you list are common to many conditions, especially autoimmune conditions, even the malar rash is seen in a range of things. You obviously don't have any signs or symptoms that shout a specific condition. It is really commmon in autoimmune disorders that it takes a long time to get results that are positive enough to convince a doctor.
Hi. Lots of things you could try to see if you can lesson the symptoms. Staying out of the sun and wear spf50 all the time even indoors, as my specialist reminds me, even on xmas day. Distress as much as possible (easier said than done!) I know yoga helps a lot of people. I use Qigong vids on YouTube, it's much easily than yoga. Try to not have any inflammatory foods, which is most and if not all processed foods and dairy. I follow a vegan diet but find it hard to kick some vegan the processed junk out of my diet. I think in some cases, as it was for myself the GPS wait until you get better or you get so bad, your symptoms point to what it is. GPs spent a yr looking at my monthly blood tests, watching markers go up and down, then they got so high and i was very poorly they sent my to a Rheumy.
If I could go back in time to the start of my symptoms, I would have done everything I could to not end up with full blown sle and all the others that you get as well. Though most of it is out of our hands, there are things we can do that might help. 🤞
I do everything on the computer - which doesn't really do predictive text but occasionally I do wonder ...At present the HU bug is obliterating any links you have inserted if you go back to edit a reply so you have to reinsert them. Now THAT is doing my head in given the number of links I use
I would keep looking for the proper diagnosis. Your symptoms can be a sign of many different conditions autoimmune or not. They could also try giving you some mild medication such as hydroxicloroqinine and see if it helps your symptoms or not. Sometimes rheumatologist can diagnose only with symptoms and disregard the blood test, but that is rare.
As sarahalice says - you have to work on reducing the symptoms and she knows a lot more about that in the realm of lupus-type things than I do.
The sad truth about many/most autoimmune conditions is that there is no cure and often even drug treatments are very variable in their effect. There are no simple answers, no pill you can pop, and there has to be some indication of the underlying cause before they can justify using drugs with many potential adverse effects when they ave no idea if they will work.
Learning to live with it is essential - avoiding things that trigger your symptoms may not be easy but necessary. My daughter and granddaughter both became vegan and my granddaughter no longer ends up in the ED every few weeks, circling the drain because of her asthma. Doesn't need pred now either. Which has improved their mental health for both of them. It's a pain for me when they visit - so many vegan products contain wheat - which I need to avoid because I react. But there are no adverse effects to that sort of management - providing you watch your diet for nutrients you need, like marmite keeping vit B12 up for vegans!!
You may eventually get to a stage they CAN recognise a suitable approach but even then - you may not like what they have to offer you. It might be steroids - the only thing available for me for my a/i disorder. There are ways of avoiding many of the adverse effects they cause - primarily cutting carbs drastically to avoid weight gain - but the bruises that develop long term are less easy and it may mean changing how you dress or just putting up with and ignoring the bruises that can make you look as if you just did 10 rounds with Mike Tyson! And other things like the sun sensitivity can't be improved with drugs - some even make them worse.
Hi jfn1 , Totally agree with Sarahalice look into your dietary food and gentle exercise helps Each day.
Find out which food is your trigger that causes /makes it worst it only takes one ingredient in the food. With me it was mushrooms and garlic. It even came to a stage even handling a garlic was very painful and would swell up my hands. I never used to have that type of reaction before SLE I used to love garlic added loads of them in my food when I was cooking . It was a huge blow to discover that I could not have it. A real change in my cooking😜
I also found that the current heat wave has made it worst it did flare up my joints and lesion spots. Hopefully your joints will not feel so inflamed once the weather has cooled down.
Just to let you know test sometimes don't show up positive until several years later. Like me it took 5 years for it to actually show that I had SLE from the time I had severe migraines, multiple infection to unable to walk (due to pain-inflammation)only fhen I was diagnosed with SLE.
So , don't feel disheartened that you did not get a positive outcome today it will happen another day. Just adjust your diet . See if you can get anti inflammatory pain killers for the pain. Make sure you keep on the top of your pain as well. When you are on anti inflammatory make sure your GP prescribed you some gastroresistant tablets this is to stop you getting ulcers in your stomach because of the meds you are taking.
It seems that a low carb diet is being found to be helpful by some - phcuk.org/ has posted it's recent conference videos on YouTube and whilst several are aimed at Health Care Professionals the ones I have watched so far are enlightening in general.
You may just be early in your disease. That is how my undifferentiated connective disease starting - nausea, sore throat and fatigue from sun. I got rashes on both knees and hands on a beach holiday. I never knew to tell this to a doctor.
Watch for symptoms and stay in touch with GP who can do screening tests.
People get photo allergy from sunscreen and are photosensitive from drugs but I wonder if they get sick as in lupus or lupus-like disease.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Confused with results 
Blood works and my results 
ANA blood test results
Chart of blood results
Blood results... Any ideas? 
