Hi All, Since Dec, our 14 yr old has been having headaches and night sweats. Within the last couple of weeks symptoms have progressed to calf tightness, tiredness, tingling/cold feet and noticeable weakness in hand. Symptoms come and go and vary in severity. Thankfully, MRI w/o contrast was negative. Dr sent blood to MDL only positive result was Lyme IgG/IgM by Elisa. Dr says "old" Lyme. However, kid has never treated for Lyme. In addition, ANA is positive (speckled).
As a Lyme/Bart/Babesia patient I am pretty sure symptoms are Lyme/co-infect related. But I uncertain when it comes to the ANA result. In the past I have been ANA negative.
Dr has us going to rheum to r/o autoimmune disease.
I would very much appreciate any insight regarding ANA positive and Lyme/co-infect.
Thank you
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
A positive ANA is pretty common with Lyme and co. I have it and no diagnosis of any other autoimmune disease.
Posted by STS047 (Member # 46122) on :
Thank you Jordan.
Posted by STS047 (Member # 46122) on :
Sorry ...Jordana (my typing is horrible)
Posted by me (Member # 45475) on :
I highly recommend you get your daughter to a LLMD as soon as possible.
I was referred to rheumatologists, infectious disease doctors, and all sorts of doctors and misdiagnosed with tons of stuff prior to proper Lyme, babesiosis, and bartonella diagnoses. This is very common with Lyme sufferers.
Best wishes to you and your daughter.
Posted by Pocono Lyme (Member # 5939) on :
I had a positive ANA speckled pattern a few times. The first being prior to Lyme diagnosis. I researched and found http://www.roadback.org/ Autoimmune disorders treated with antibiotics.
With Lyme and company treatment, I no longer test positive.
Posted by Hides1 (Member # 6348) on :
Two out of my three kids are ANA positive- one had been at the start of treatment and one became positive along the way. Autoimmune is completely involved with these diseases. I myself have a positive one also resulted to my thyroid issues. Please don't second guess yourself. Get to an ILADS doc and find out all the pieces to the puzzle. The longer you wait the harder to treat. And don't rely on testing at all. Igenex is best but through the years I have binders of my kids health records and we would think one coinfection is gone then it would pop up again. Lyme and co are clinical diagnoses and you have to get to a practioner that truly understands this. With ANA you have to control the cytokines, get inflammation down, kill the bugs and get the toxins out... then the body starts to heal and have a more normal immune system.
Posted by momintexas (Member # 23391) on :
I have/had several positive ANA's as well as dsDNA.
My Dr told me that ANA can be related to Lyme so he always ran the dsDNA test which according to him could be more indications towards Lupus.
Unfortunately, I have never been able to get a straight answer out of any Dr's about this.
My immunologist thinks they are still somehow related and just isn't sure which came first. Lyme Dr said the dsDNA being positive is something to watch and also agreed it points more towards Lupus. (I am CDC+ for Lyme).
My ANA and dsDNA are both still positive even after/during treatment.
It just doesn't seem like anyone is too sure.
I have also heard of MANY people with positive ANA's (negative on dsDNA) that go away with Lyme/co-infection treatment.
It may be worth looking into the dsDNA test (to help look at any possible autoimmune diseases) and really recommend seeing a LLMD.
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
momintexas, to me that means that the bugs are definitely intracellular.
But in autoimmune disease,there is another pattern where the ANA disappears with treatment. The patient is given antiinflammatories and meanwhile, the stressor ( usually a virus) stops lysis and goes back into its box; couple years later the ANA is negative again.
So reversal of ANA happens even when there isn't any Lyme diagnosis, even though those people are told they "will always be positive."
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jordana:
So reversal of ANA happens even when there isn't any Lyme diagnosis, even though those people are told they "will always be positive."