Re: 2nd daughter diagnosed w/autoimmune-Elaine

[Guest guest]

Wow, thanks, Elaine, for the very helpful information. I may wait a bit

before having retested, but I'm not so worried now, either. She has

only displayed the Raynaud's so far, and yes, the pattern was speckled. In

wanting to make sure I hadn't misunderstood the doctor, I got a copy of the

lab report, and she had written at the bottom, " Mixed Connective Tissue

Disease. " I'll be checking with her again after the new year begins.

Thanks again.

Pam

In a message dated 12/29/2002 9:58:39 PM Central Standard Time,

daisyelaine@... writes:

> Hi Pam,

> Your daughter's ANA titer isn't very high. It should definitely be repeated

>

> but it could be positive from active Raynaud's syndrome due to cold

> weather.

>

> With the results we also include a report of the pattern seen when we do

> the

> test. I suspect your daughter had a speckled pattern and the interpretation

>

> included with the test may have confused the doctor. A speckled pattern can

>

> be caused by a number of different antibodies, including ribonucleoprotein

> (RNP, seen in MCTD), SSa and SSb (also known as Ro or La see in Sjogren's

> syndrome), Sm (smith) and ds-DNA (seen in lupus), and a few others. In the

> old days all these disorders were referred to as MCTD as we referred to all

>

> of them as connective tissue or collagen disorders.

>

> Now we know that MCTD is a specific disease with overlapping symptoms of

> lupus, scleroderma and myositis. For a diagnosis of MCTD, the test for RNP

> antibodies would have to be positive.

>

> Any doctor can order these tests. The college of American pathologists

> recommends running tests for SSa, SSb, RNP, ds-DNA and Sm antibodies to

> confirm if a specific autoimmune disorder is present. The ANA should also

> be

> repeated within a few months. Many normal people have positive ANA titers

> at

> various times. The ANA test can also be positive in people on a number of

> different drugs, as mentioned before, in people with drug related lupus, a

> condition that resolves when the offending medication is withdrawn.

>

> I think your doctor may have been generalizing when he mentioned MCTD and

> meant that the results could indicate one of the connective tissue

> diseases.

> But with the titer being low, it could also be a false positive. I'd

> definitely get the other tests and have the ANA repeated, but the results

> don't seem as worrisome now that I've seen the numbers. Take care, Elaine