Positive ANA 1:80

[Purplestaffie]

Hi everyone hope all are well.

So I had a hospital appointment for another reason and mentioned I was awaiting an ANA result. She had a look for me and said it had come back and is positive 1:80 and speckled bit couldn't tell me anymore as it is out of her field. Advised me to chase it up with my GP. I can't get an appointment with my GP today. Can anyone suggest what this may mean please as I have no idea. Thanks in advance.

[Mandypandy1969]

i have positive a.n.a. i know it means, an autoimmune disease. i am being treated for sjogrens which is autoimmune disease. g.p. said none of my abnormal tests are anything to worry about when i saw her. i found it very odd when i looked online at blood tests results which had the comment see your doctor. i feel i am not being told much at all. left in the dark. xx

[Hidden]

Hi there. Positive ANA of 1:80 is regarded as only a weak positive - which can show in people with no health problems at all. The higher titres are more associated with having a rheumatic disease and a minority with negative/ normal titres will have diseases such as Sjögren’s and Rheumatoid Arthritis and occasionally even Lupus. UCTD is usually diagnosed by positive ANA and MCTD (undifferentiated and mixed) is usually only diagnosed with a positive ANA and specific autoantibody as well.

Basically it’s just one piece of many in the jigsaw puzzle. Symptoms are most important but some doctors won’t refer, look further or diagnose without a firmly positive ANA.

The more specific autoantibody panel is called ENA and each rheumatic disease has its own antibody or two which point more definitively to a rheumatic disease.

To use myself as an example - my ANA was only tested 2 years after I was diagnosed and treated with RA. It was equivocal and then negative - perhaps because I was already being aggressively medicated by this point. Finally five years on my ANA was clear positive at 1:320 so this led to a lip biopsy for Sjögren’s which was 100% positive.

This and my symptoms changed my diagnosis from RA to Sjögren’s. My ANA has now mysteriously dropped to 1:80 same as yours and my doctors are saying that this is only a weak positive and therefore they refer to my immunology for systemic disease activity as low.

I hope this helps explain how complex it all is and gives you an insight into how a diagnosis at this stage might not necessarily happen for you. Many of us have to wait a long time unless our symptoms and signs are so compelling that rheumatologists can’t ignore them.

[Purplestaffie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply twitchytoes. Damn it I thought I was closer to getting an answer for the symptoms I have been experiencing for the last two years.

Oh well I will keep up the fight to getting an answer.

[Hidden in reply to Purplestaffie]

Well at least it wasn’t negative - and as I say this will help add to the overall picture. For your information 25-30% of people with Sjögren’s and RA are seronegative - which makes us much harder to diagnose.

Only about 5-10% of those with Lupus and Scleroderma are seronegative I believe. Also as I understand it you can have a weakly positive or negative ANA or RF but a strongly positive ENA score so please don’t despair yet. I just wanted to try and present the possibilities and probabilities in order to help with realistic expectations.

You may still be one of the lucky ones who has positive ENA antibodies! X

[Melba1 in reply to Purplestaffie]

That’s still a positive ANA and combined with symptoms ( if you’re happy to tell us your symptoms too that might help?) should be enough to get you sent to a rheumatologist.

Some completely healthy people will have a low positive ANA but if you’ve had symptoms for 2 years and a positive ANA, then you are definitely right to keep pushing for an explanation and help for your symptoms. These things can take some time to make themselves clear - to both us and the drs!

X

[Purplestaffie in reply to Melba1]

Hi melba1,

Thank you for your reply. The symptoms I have had for the past 2 years are, joint & muscle pain particularly hands, knees, neck and back. Chest tightness with rib pain sore to even touch. Breathlessness, headaches & dizziness, fatigue, nausea, hot flushes and increased sweating and heart palpitations. I often get very red flushed cheeks by the end of the day. As you can see quite a lot going on. I do have hypothyroidism so I know some symptoms would be from that. Could my hypothyroidism cause a raised ANA?

Thank you. x

[Melba1 in reply to Purplestaffie]

It could, ANA isn’t a very clear indicator of any one disease, just one sign that something autoimmune is going on.

Is the hypothyroid a newish diagnosis? If the symptoms are different to your normal ones with that then it could easily be a new autoimmune disease too, unfortunately when you have one you are more likely to have another - but some symptoms could be a sign your thyroid meds aren’t working enough maybe too?

I think you should ask to be referred to a rheumatologist? Two years of all those symptoms is a lot to cope with and whatever is causing them needs to be looked into - your quality of life is most important and once they find the cause you can get treatment to relieve the symptoms. Good luck x

[Purplestaffie in reply to Melba1]

Hi Melba1

I have had hypothyroidism for 6 years now. The only symptoms I had back then was fatigue, weight gain and thinning hair. Then the other problems started 2 years ago about 6 months after having my first child.

I will chase it all up with my GP, at least it's another piece to the puzzle.

Thanks for you time Melba1. x

[eekt]

Positive ANA means the lab do more tests to find out which antibodies are causing the positive....these tests can take a few weeks as a culture has to be grown....it should be that there are more results to come for you, for antibodies relating to specific illnesses, as Mandypandy says, pointing to autoimmunity, and your GP should refer you to a rheumatologist

It's all very confusing because GPs aren't taught much about autoimmunity or ANA, but the lab will probably help out with comments or notes with the results (lab scientists have the same grade as consultants)

Lupus UK has great info material on tests and diagnosis and much, much more

Hoping you have some answers soon, be well xxx

[Purplestaffie in reply to eekt]

Hi eekt,

Thank you for your reply, would the lab do further tests even though it's a low positive?

I will have a look at the info on lupus UK.

Thanks again. xx

[eekt in reply to Purplestaffie]

If the lab has said positive then they should be doing the escalating tests (some labs only treat 1:160 and above as positive, that's autoimmunity for you..)....be informed when you see your GP, because many GPs have very little knowledge of autoimmune diseases...xxx

[Dustydander]

A positive ANA is one marker for auto immune. It can be positive for other reasons but is a marker of a number of auto immune. The speckled pattern is usually points more toward Lupus but can be other things as well. Above 1:80 is considered positive by some labs and borderline for others. They would need additional testing to determine a diagnosis. Double strand DNA is one that would be part of follow up testing.

[Purplestaffie in reply to Dustydander]

Thanks dustydander, I have read it can be raised due to other factors. Just wondering if it could be my thyroid raising it as I do have hypothyroidism. Oh well I will find out once I can get in to see my GP.