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Question: I was diagnosed with SLE Lupus 20 years ago. I cannot take steroids because they bother my stomach and the same with Naproxen. The doctor has me on Plaquenil but I still feel extremely fatigued amongst other things. My question is even though my ANA tither was 1 to 640 when diagnosed and retested 4 times to be sure, when I get an ANA test done now once a year it comes back negative. My question is two fold........can an ANA have a false negative or can my lupus just not be flaring at the time and secondly, what is the difference if any between an ANA test and an ANA tither? Also I cannot be in the sun without a rash still and I still have almost every lupus symptom as well as my kidney function going down. Could I possibly not have lupus and something else?
Brief Answer:
Probably lupus
Detailed Answer:
hi
yes sometimes lupus on follow up may develop a false negative ANA .
this may be because of treatment or because lupus maybe in remission.
if your titer has once been 1:640 I don't think there is any doubt that this is lupus.
the difference between ANA and ANA with titers is as the name suggests the latter gives you titers along with whether it is positive or not.
in case you still have symptoms there are other medications like immunosuppressants which can reduce your symptoms.
also routine measures like exercise supplement with vitamin d and folic acid will help you.
other tests like complement level s dsdna titers and esr and CRP help us to know about your disease activity.
hope that answers your question s.
regards
Probably lupus
Detailed Answer:
hi
yes sometimes lupus on follow up may develop a false negative ANA .
this may be because of treatment or because lupus maybe in remission.
if your titer has once been 1:640 I don't think there is any doubt that this is lupus.
the difference between ANA and ANA with titers is as the name suggests the latter gives you titers along with whether it is positive or not.
in case you still have symptoms there are other medications like immunosuppressants which can reduce your symptoms.
also routine measures like exercise supplement with vitamin d and folic acid will help you.
other tests like complement level s dsdna titers and esr and CRP help us to know about your disease activity.
hope that answers your question s.
regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Kampana
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