Hi everyone, I am new here. I have been having strange symptoms for several months (including severe skin burning, faint feeling, chronic dizziness, weak...) My gp did blood work last week and my ana came back positive for lupus. He is sending me to a rheumatologist.
However, since then I have been reading about people being wrongly diagnosed with lupus and the problem is really related to lyme.
Did this happen to any of you? If so, how did you handle a diagnosis of lupus then the lyme? Did you start treatment for the lupus and how did you know to check with the lyme? Can one have both issues?
I am getting tested through igenex next week and seeing rheumatologist in a few weeks.
Thanks for any help. vdean
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
When my daughter's test came back as a positive ANA, her GP was ready to put her on prednisone without any further testing. This is one of the worst things you can do for a lyme patient. Steroids are to be avoided and can really worsen the condition.
What we learned later was that many GPs automatically assume that a positive ANA means Lupus. There are several follow up tests needed to confirm that diagnosis. Those include CRP, SED, and ultimately a Double Strand DNA test. If all 3 come back positive then it is more likely to be Lupus.
Once we got the positive Lyme test, we cancelled our appointment with the Rheumatologist. Just our choice since she was not Lyme literate. Our DNA test was negative so there was no further need.
The important thing is not to get too worried about the diagnosis. Just take it one day at a time and things always work out in the end.
[ 01-20-2011, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: lululymemom ]
Posted by dsiebenh (Member # 5353) on :
I have tested positive for Lyme, and was also dx with MS at one point. Some of my Lupus tests came back positive too; the doc said it was a non-specific test that could be positive if you had any "autoimmune" disease. And this was a regular MD, not a Lyme doc. He was not concerned about "Lupus" per se; he just used it as an indication I had an immune system malfunction.
Posted by vdean (Member # 30190) on :