High ANA titer but rest of blood work negative

[Jeigh44]

Hi Everyone,

Have you ever heard of anyone being diagnosed with Sjogrens with a positive ANA titer only?   I have been under the care of an excellent rheumatologist, for the past 5 years.  My ANA is always positive.  1: 2560 was the highest number  and it has never dropped lower than 1:640.   I have had a low C3 complement off and on,  and once my WBC was a little low, but other than that all of my blood work is normal.   I am also negative for all specific autoimmune diseases.   I have had symptoms for 7 years.   My doctor said he believes I have Primary Sjogrens based on my symptoms.

Any thoughts?   

Thanks.
Justin

[irish]

Yeah, You have a smart doctor who knows how to assess symptoms and apply the one positive test in such a way to lead him to use his brain and come up with the diagnosis. Pardon the sarcasm, but so often in this world the docs need scans, blood work, MRIs, etc and once in a while talk to the patient about his symptoms and maybe sit down and hit the books and get advice from other doctors. It is so easy for docs to do it the easy way and that results in a bunch of very ill serum negative sjogrens patients waiting and waiting for help. Irish

[Dawnmist]

According to Dr. Julius Birnbaum, somewhere between 30-50% of people with Sjogren's are seronegative with regard to SSA/SSB antibodies - for these people absolute confirmation requires a lip biopsy.

So...high ANA + specific symptoms => your Rheumatologist has decided that there is a very high likelihood that it is Sjogren's and you are seronegative. Is there really a need to put you through a lip biopsy if the situation seems very clear, when he can treat your symptoms without requiring invasive testing first to "prove" absolutely that he is right?

It sounds like you have a good Rheumatologist, who knows that they need to treat the patient rather than treat the bloodwork.