Positive Ana Tracks With My Dysautonomia Flares

[julieph85]

I have had RA for 6 years. My rheumy has taken my blood every year to check my anitbodies. Before I developed this severe dysautonomia 2 years ago I ALWAYS had a positive CCP (specific antibody for RA) and positive Rheumatoid Factor. I NEVER had a positive ANA. When my symptoms were at their worst 2 years ago my rheumy re-ran my antibodies and they came back that I had a very high ANA (1:1280) as well as my usual CCP antibodies. She thought that was odd. Last spring my dysautonomia was at an all time low and my symptoms were greatly improved. She re-tested and my ANA was negative and my ususal CCP was positive. Here I am very sick again in a bad "flare" of whetever is causing this dysautonomia and my ANA is very high again (1:680). I think this is not a coincidence and points to my disease being auto-immune in nature. Has anyone else experience this same thing with their ANA? Also, what antibody tests could dr.'s do to find out what autoimmune problem this is? I'm testing negative for sjogrens and lupus....

[icesktr189]

yup I have had 3 positive ANAs and.the rheme never figured out what it is...i read something like 50 percent of CFS patients test positive at any given time.

[HopeSprings]

I recently saw a Rheumatologist to discuss Sjogrens and one of the blood tests he ran was Rheumatoid Factor. Mine was negative, but apparently RF can be positive in Sjogrens and other autoimmune diseases. I am reluctantly going for a lip biopsy at the end of next month. You may know all this already, but here are links that talk about RF and below that something I copied and pasted.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5557608_sjogrens-syndrome-amp-rheumatoid-factor.html

http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_learnaffects.aspx?articleid=2295&zoneid=526

Other Conditions Can Test Positive For Rheumatoid Factor

Other autoimmune diseases can also be positive for rheumatoid factor including:

• Sjogren's syndrome
  
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
  
• Scleroderma
  
• Polymyositis
  
• Dermatomyositis
  
• Mixed Connective Tissue Disease
  

[julieph85]

Hi Naomi, yes my rheumy doesn't put much wait in Rheumatoid Factor because like you said it can be both positive or negative and is not indicative of the presence of any specific disorder. My rheumy says the only thing it is really a marker for is how severe your particular disorder is. Usually if you have a positive RF it means your rheumatoid arthritis is more severe. ANA is also very general but is more common in certain disorders like Lupus. There is a specific antibody test for sjogrens (SS-A and SS-. Has yours been tested? I had a positive sjogrens antibody test 2 years ago but it is now negative. It is common to have sjogrens with RA so my rheumy didn't think much of it. My antibody titer was also low so it's unlikely the sjogrens would have caused the dysautonomia. Do you have problems with dry mouth? I doubt I have sjogrens because i actually usually have an excess of saliva...

[ramakentesh]

As previously suggested ANA can be elevated in Sjorgens Syndrome, the frequency of which is higher in patients with comorbid autoimmune diseases like RA. It can also be associated with Lupus which of course would be bad news.

Its interesting that you experience POTS/Dys flares similar to my own when I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. Not all POTSies wax and wane.

It may be of interest that Blair Grubb suggests that mestonin is most helpful in POTS patients who may have it secondary to autoimmune inflammatory disorders like RA, SS and Lupus as examples. THis could make sense because studies have suggested that patients with RA and SS have parasympathetic withdrawal and potentially autoimmune mediated acetylcholine receptor issues.

Other autoantibodies of interest may be those targeting beta 1 beta 2 ot alpha 1 receptors.

in autoinflammatory disorders from my own experience there can be cross over between symptoms. As an example its common for ankylosing spondylitis patients to exhibit rarely symptoms of MS such as optic neuritis. Thankfully this rarely resolves into full flown MS. Just one of the oddities of autoimmunity.

[HopeSprings]

Julie:

I was tested for Sjogrens antibodies - negative. However, the Rheumy suggested a lip biopsy to be sure because of the symptoms and other test results. Do you have any neuropathy symptoms? I don't have dry mouth, but like you feel I have excessive saliva - sort of a constant gushing salty saliva thing going on. But look at this:

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/9/1113.full