I have recently been told I have SLE, I was to be tested every 2 months, but last month my blood test came back with anti-dna of 805, and was told I need to test once a month instead. I was placed on Hydroxchlor, Amitriptylin, and Gabapentin. Just got this month’s results, was told all came back fine except for the anti-dna is now 938. Was told to keep taking medications and keep appointment end of this month. What does an anti-dna of 938 indicate? why is it going higher in instead of lower?

My daughter has been battling with lupus since age 19. She is now 41 years old. This year she had heart surgery to put in a paracardio window to relive the fluid building around her heart. The doctor said it was the most fluid he had every taken off a patient where they lived. She is still battling with lupus and has been on predisone far too long but if she get below 20mg she has a flare. It’s not lookin well. She now is beginning to have stress fractures and problems with acid reflux which have caused spots on her throat that the doctors are watching very carefully. My question is there treatment that you offer that may help my daughter?

My symptoms were severe symmetrical joint pain, no swelling or heat (wrists, ankles, hips), overall terrible crappy feeling, low fever, shaking chills, muscle aches in upper front thighs. This episode came on suddenly with the joint pain the first symptom. I had been mentioning for 3 years to my doctor about these symmetrical joint pains, but not asking for treatment, however this episode of pain was far more significant then in the past. The doctor prescribed voltarin and vicodin which I immediately began taking before having the bloodwork done. RH, ESR and CRP came back border line positive. By this time I had stopped the previous meds as I was not improving and was halfway thru a six day steroid pack, when my doctor sent me for additional bloodwork as the ANA had come back positive with speckled pattern. They did anti ds, anti sm and anti rnp, which were negative but Complement 3 and 4 was very low. The steroids did eliminate my symptoms, but they returned during the taper before I finished the pack. After a couple of rweeks, the other symptoms have resolved other than the joint pain which waxes and wanes but is not as severe. My primary care doctor suggested a consult with an immungologist, however I deferred in light of my improvement as I don?t want the specialist to dismiss me with a ?what are you here for? because with my insurance, there are few I can see for second opinions. From what I have seen on the web, my lab results do not diagnois lupus although I have seen the mylar rash (or could it be roscea?) but it was not present during the times I saw my doctor, nor is it now. The question is this, could taking steroids while having the anti-ds, sm and rnp bloodwork drawn cause a false negative?