Positive ANA

[karilynn85]

Does anybody else here have a positive ANA and a diagnosis of just RA? I have a positive ANA, 1:320 homogenous pattern and I have only been diagnosed with RA. My rheumatologist told me a positive ANA can happen with RA, but I can't find much on that anywhere on the internet. Everything says mixed connective tissue disease or Sjogren's or Lupus. I don't see a positive ANA as a common RA-only thing and it kind of frightens me. Anybody else? Thank you!

[Hidden]

I dont understand that one...wish I could, I would have helped. Hope it is not something bad.

[karilynn85 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for replying! I copied this from the Mayo clinic website: "An ANA test detects antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in your blood. Your immune system normally makes antibodies to help you fight infection. In contrast, antinuclear antibodies often attack your body's own tissues — specifically targeting each cell's nucleus.

In most cases, a positive ANA test indicates that your immune system has launched a misdirected attack on your own tissue — in other words, an autoimmune reaction."

I'm in America and I know this group is UK based, but I think the ANA test exists over there too. lol hopefully!

[Hidden in reply to karilynn85]

Walala! 😁...For sure thats good knowledge. I will look it up in my results next week when I do my bloods. Am in Australia not UK. Thanks for the enlightenment

[Hidden]

I too had a positive ANA test when first diagnosed. When my doctor was going over my blood results with me, I saw the word "Lupus" hightlighted. Then under the highlighted "Lupus" a note stated patient has rheumatoid arthritis ......

It was explained to me that the ANA test was a blanket test for certain auto immune diseases, Lupus, RA, sjogens etc. I was also informed that some people are ANA positive and they never develope any disease.

Here is a link that explained things to me in simple terms. I hope it helps you.

rheuminfo.com/diseases/anti...

[Joy_1]

You can also have a positive ANA if you have UCTD (undifferentiated connective tissue disease). Here are my notes gathered from various sites. Hope it helps clarify things for you further.

Anti-Nuclear Antibody (ANA) Test

Much better marker for measuring connective tissue diseases

The most important blood test to do first if someone thinks you have lupus is the anti-nuclear antibody test (this is also known as the ANA). This test looks to see if your body is making antibodies to itself.

Now, believe it or not, we all make antibodies to ourselves. It’s normal to do this but you don’t want to make too many antibodies or have them attacking in unusual places. The ANA test gives two results: (a) the titre and (b) the pattern.

(a) The Titre: The titre tells you how many antibodies you have. It starts out at 1:40 and then increases through the following levels 1:80, 1:160, 1:320, 1:640, 1:1280, 1:2560. In most labs the highest level is 1:2560. If your levels are 1:40-1:160 these are pretty low and might actually be normal. The level of 1:320 is the “cusp” which is more likely to mean something. Levels of 1:640, 1:1280, and 1:2560 are more concerning.

An important point: It isn’t that useful to keep measuring the titre as it does not go up and down as your disease gets better or worse.

1. An ANA test is used to help determine whether someone has an autoimmune disorder, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

2. The ANA test is a simple blood test that finds the presence of antibodies that mistakenly attack healthy proteins in the body.

3. The ANA test can’t diagnose you with a specific condition. If your test comes back positive, your doctor will need to run more tests to figure out exactly what’s causing your symptoms.