You guys know everything!!

[nancylee]

Hello Everyone. I know  everything about a CBC w/diff.  I am still getting a blood draw every week. My doctor decided to run some autoimmune test on me. reconfirming?? i dont know.  They are all pretty high and I was wondering if some one you "old timer" could explain them to me.  I know they are all indicators to autoimmune but I dont know about how high some of them are.

ESR 33  (normal 0-30)
C-reactive protein CRP 1.1 ( normal is 0.744)
SSA 8 ( normal less than 1)
SSB 8 ( normal less than 1)
ANA positiveA
ANA titer ( here is where it gets really interesting) 1:6040 ( normal is less than 1:40)

This is also after one week of HIGH dose of Predisone.  What do you think??

[Gayle]

I thinks, my dear, you have Sjogren's... WOW!   Okay, really I think WOW... so sorry I can't add more...

WOW!

Gayle

[lynnmarie219]

Hi Nancylee,

I wish we did know everything, but unfortunately that isn't the case.....lol.

It's hard to interpret labs and the best thing to do is talk to your doctor who ordered the tests. Off the top of my head your labs do show you have something autoimmune going on with some inflammation in your body as well. Hopefully your doc with take your labs, look at your symptoms and history,  and give you a diagnosis and /or treat the symptoms.

A good lab site online that has helped me answer some basic questions about tests is

http://labtestsonline.org/

When are you going back to the doc? Hope you get a follow up appt soon to discuss this all with him/her. Keep us posted.

[iraisin]

I think you're probably pretty achy - unless the pred. knocked it out.

I also think Lyn is right - you need to have a concerted discussion with your doctor and have her teach what all this means and what you need to do to help yourself live with this.

Good luck, sweet dear.

[irish]

It looks like you sure have autoimmune disease. The thing that you need to know is that often times people can have no positive results to blood work and be extremely ill. On the other hand people with positive blood work that is really high can be just mildly ill.

The truth is that you are lucky to show positive blood work, especially if you are feeling ill. This way there should be no way that a doctor will not take you seriously. You need to seek out treatment also. The drug plaquenil is used early on now in the treatment of sjogrens in order to tame down the inflammation. If the plaquenil doesn't help then the stronger meds like methotrexate, cellcept, imuran, etc. are used to try to halt the autoimmune attack on the body.

Hopefully your doc will get into aggressive mode and get you treated as soon as possible. The prednisone is great to use for the more immediate relief, but can't be used long term in strong doses. Let us know how you are getting along. Irish

[gurs]

Yes, looks like sjogrens to me.

Gursie

[nancylee]

All my doctors are pretty agressive. I do have sjogrens and I have lupus. I know i have BIG autoimmune issues. ( my autoimmune issues effect my blood and it attacks my platelets and redblood cells.) I have had TTP a few times and ITP 2 times. I was actually questioning how HIGH the readings are. My doctors seldom do these test on me, and we were both pretty stunned with the high numbers. My doctor said that they were indicators and a really high reading just means it more clear. I was wondering if you guys knew differently on these types of results.

[Nancy60]

My understanding is for the ANA, SSa, SSB a higher number just means more certaintity that autoimmune/Sjogrens/Lupus etc is going on, not how severe it is. 

DS-DNA on the other hand can indicate kidney involvement in Lupus and the higher it is, the more active the lupus is.

I am not sure about the sed rate and CRP if a higher number means more inflammation or not, maybe someone else will be by that knows.

Nancy

[jazzlover]

I am not sure about the sed rate and CRP if a higher number means more inflammation or not, maybe someone else will be by that knows.

Nancy

-
Yes, a higher number means more inflammation.

[Gayle]

Kidney failure or problems also are associated with Sjogrens, not only Lupus. I had complete kidney failure with Glomerulonephritis which they first said was Lupus but now know it was from the Sjogrens.

[gurs]

My rheumy said also of her patients SED rates always low, like mine. Also, Im on alot of steriods, medications may also cause some labs to vary with results. Im not going by the numbers anymore, as when my numbers go up, I dont necessarily feel worse. They are pretty low now, and I feel my worst ever?

gursie