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I was diagnosed several weeks ago with probable ms. I have 25 lesions in the subcortical region, in the periventricular white matter that showed up on my mri. All of my bloodwork is normal, except the ANA, which was positive. My doctor screened for SSA and SSB, but they were negative and Sjorgrens was ruled out. I am still waiting for the titers to come back from the ANA, and was just wondering if anyone else here was positive for ANA. I do not have any of the symptoms of Lupus, so I have no idea what else my doctor is looking for. I am so chronically fatigued that I can't make it through an 8 hour day at work, my right arm and left leg go numb all the time, I have visual disturbances, and I feel like I have ants crawling under my skin along with a burning sensation. The neurologist said that the lesions were not in the "right place" to be ms-what in the world does that mean, and why would he say ms is probable if my lesions are in the wrong place? Should I get another opinion?

Moongoddess,

It doesn't surprise me that someone with MS would have ANA (anti-nuclear antibodies), which is normally thought of as a sign of lupus. My hypothesis has been that they are pretty much the same mechanisms going on in MS and lupus, they just have the primary activity occurring in different cell types & tissue types and locations giving different manifestations, which are given different disease names. Lupus is more systemic and so is more accessible to the immune system surveillence early on. As a result a person reacts to many different auto-antigens and gets skin lesions, hair loss, accumulation of immune complexes in the kidneys, and possibly Sjogren's syndrome. People with MS get lesions in the CNS, where the potential auto-antigens are less accessible. However, you can find cases where MS patients get skin lesions, Sjogren's syndrome and hair loss. My feeling is that the same aberrant mechanism occurring in a few of their brain cells is also occurring in a few of their fibroblasts or other cell types in other locations in their body. Since the cells are different tissue types, the particular auto-antigens that provoke an immune reaction might differ. And lupus patients get psychiatric problems, possibly from some CNS involvement. Doctors will continue to treat them as separate diseases until someone can explain and prove the similarities at a cellular and molecular level.

Wesley

My daughter is ten years old and she often complains about joint pain. Her mother has Rheumatoid Artritis and I have MS. We took her to the doc. who order an AnA test and hers came back positive. We took her to a juvenile RA specialist who examined her and concluded he could not dianose her with Lupus, RA, or MS. He said she lacked the physical symptoms for such a diagnosis. My wife and I both feel it is most likely a predictor of future problems. Another reason that better treatments can not come fast enough for us. I hate to see another generation go through what we have.
Terry

My ANA levels have been chronically for several years, from wh beeat i haven told this is not ucommon in MS as ANA is really a quite general indicator of inflammation in the body. It is usually thought of with Lupus but is also seen raised in many other condtions particualrly those with an auto immune basis- i have just had a flare of my ms and the levles were significantly raised but even when i am in remission the levels are slightly raised

Hi
I have MS 10+ yrs. Was tested recently for ANA - had them. But I don't have Lupus, Sjogren's - just MS and I was relieved - MS is enough to be getting on with

I reread my neuro's report form spring 2006 and I tested negative for ANA.

Hi to all,

May I suggest you look into Tick-Borne Illnesses? Having high ANA's is rather common. Heck my 9 yr old niece had high ANA's...and if her family wasn't informed about this illness,,,I shudder what path she'd now be on.

This disease "causes" joint pain,,,

fatigue, numbness, visual disturbances, to name a few.

Most important is to find a doctor who is educated in TBD's. Testing for lyme disease and the pathogens are unreliable. Lyme is a clinical diagnosis!

Many of us are tested by commercial labs and have a negative test result.
I did,,but I found a doctor who looked at the bands that were postive and then my MRI's (with lesions) and my symptoms and "clinically" diagnosed me.

here's a website that can offer help. lymenet.org

best to you,
tory

i Have had raised ANA for years, even before the MS was diagonosed, at that stage they were thinking that i may have lupus but since then that has been discounted and the MS has been confirmed. From what i ahve been told the ANA is an indication of an inflammatory response going on somewhere in the body and is not really specific to any particular disease. Part of Ms is an ongoing inflammatory process so i have been told that having a rasied ANA is to be expected, in fac i have just had a flare and my ANA was quite a bit higheer than usual