ANA (not AMA) 1:2560 homogeneous

[LizaLou74]

I posted the other day that my doctor had ordered an AMA and it came back 1:2560. My LFT's were elevated. In the past couple of years I have developed extremely dry mouth (to the point my tongue sticks to the side of my cheek at night). I have been thinking maybe I had sjogren's with primary biliary cirrhosis. But through my 20's I have dealt with chronic and severe joint pain and constant skin rashes (many doctors thought I could have lupus but always tested negative). I just got a copy of my bloodwork results and lab did an ANA instead of an AMA. So now I am dealing with an ANA of 1:2560 homogeneous instead. I have an appointment with rheumatologist in a few weeks. Does sjogren's cause that highly elevated of an ANA?? I am trying to figure out if my symptoms are more in line with lupus or sjogren's. I know I will need much further testing but I am just curious. My dry mouth symptoms only started in the past couple of years where the joint and skin problems have been for past 15 years. The dry mouth symptoms are not always as severe as described above, sometimes just a slightly dry mouth..so wondering if that could be part of lupus instead. Anyway, I would greatly appreciated any information or opinions on my situation. Thanks in advance!

[kim31072]

From what my dr told me the ANA is kind of a match in the dark of a room.Alot of people would test pos for it in the general population and never show any sign of any illness period.The increase of a pos titer does increase as you age.The titer is a marker and the titer goes 1:40,1;80,1:160,1:320,1:640,1:1280,1:2560,etc this means you showed antibodies at the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7th mix they did with your blood and the diluting agent so they mixed you 7 times before they didnt find antibodies trace not 2,560 times(I dont know if you knew that but wanted to include it in case someone stumbles on this searching for info)

Higher titers are found in illnesses the higher the titer then the higher the likelihood that the drs need to investigate further(hence the referral to a rheumy)alot of times if the titer is low some drs attach no signifigance to it cause it can be found in "normals"(my daughter is one of these hers is 1:40)

The homogenous is a pattern that they found in the cell...it also helps to steer the dr toward or away from certain illnesses as certain patterns are found in some illnesses and not others.Your pattern can change from reading to reading.I have been speckled and homogenous both.

here is a link to the explanation of patterns,their presentation and what illnesses they are associated with.
http://www.labodia.com/en/ana/Atlas/anaatlasnuclear.htm#Homogeneous%20pattern

Good luck at your dr appt I hope you get a good one and you find out some answers soon.


Kim

[LizaLou74]

Kim, I just wanted to say thanks for all of the great information. I have my appointment set up for Aug. 4th and it can't come soon enough. I hope I am finally on the road to a diagnosis (whatever it may be).