Hi Raglet,

Thanks for your take on this. The doc said, indeed, the ANA could be far higher, and he suspected it was. It was speckled.

I had an rnp of 16.2 on a scale of 1- 24.9, and I thought it had to be over 24.9 to be 'high', but I read that 0-15 was normal, and 15-24.9 was borderline and 25 and up high. But that is not what this lab or what this doc said. He ignored this totally.

Then the SSA, was 9.5, in the same range of 0-24.9. That seems lower than the Anti-rnp/sm. So why do they go to the seronegative Sjogrens? Hmm

My anti/sm was only 1.1

I have some other oddities with eosinophils and basophils, but they are not the kind that knock you out.

So my question on elevated ANA is really, what does it mean?? I have high T4 (helper) cells, and low T8 (suppressor) cells.

Does any of this ring a bell to you??
I had one ANA Elisa, perhaps that is the one number one, come back 2.57, which the doc said was quite high.

My history is hideously complex, and the major only symptom, I have not had in the connective tissue disease clusters, is malar rash. I am getting sicker and wondering when it is time to do the more toxic treatments. I don't have a life. My insomnia has now given way to horrible fatigue and sleeping. All symptoms seem to be getting worse, with the exception for a week after an infusion of IVIG. I am getting pretty depressed now and wondering how long this is going to go on. This year, putting in the garden, my family had to do most of it. I could not do it.

I have not tried anything too strong, because my neuro feels I will get sicker from it, which is a possibility. I have done very poorly with meds....what to do, what to do. I don't even fully know what I have. Do these repeated ANAs being high, definitely mean this is no doubt autoimmune.....or does this mean there is a possibility of inflammation that is not autoimmune?

My rheum is in a 'duh' mode. My neuro is in his, 'I am published in seroneg. SJS mode' and my Internal Med, who is my primary is the only one concerned, and she feels it looks like MCTD. I am starting to care less about what it is, feeling less guilty about sleeping, less guilty about disengaging, and more like throwing in the towel. Quality of life is hitting the skids.