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Dear Listmates,

I’ve gotten input from 20 people on the list regarding
our daughter’s elevated ANA levels, and have talked
with the GP again.  Here’s a composite of what I’ve
learned:

ANA stands for anti-nuclear antibody and is a measure
of the antibodies your body is producing against your
own cells.  Thus it is an indicator of the possibility
of an autoimmune disease, but does not necessarily
mean that that is what is wrong.  There are some
people with elevated ANA who are perfectly healthy and
never have any symptoms.  Elderly people sometimes
have elevated ANA levels for undetermined reasons.
And, mono or other viruses can also cause elevated ANA
levels.   (Mono can also cause the symptoms our
daughter is suffering, but her white blood cell count,
which is what the doctor had tested at the end of
January to determine if she had recovered, is still
normal; in fact, it’s actually higher than it was
then.  Also, the ANA level [1:320] is too high to
dismiss as being attributable to the mono.   There are
other indications from the blood work [pattern:
speckled; SED rate 30] that support concern about the
ANA levels.)

No one is aware of CD itself causing elevated ANA
levels, though there is some speculation that it
might.  There is, though, a connection between
autoimmune diseases and CD, at least in that people
with CD appear to be more likely to have other
autoimmune disorders.  Some people reported having had
elevated ANA levels prior to being diagnosed with CD,
some discovered elevated levels and were diagnosed
with an autoimmune disease since going GF.  One person
reported that their ANA levels returned to normal
after going GF, and so suggested we run blood tests
for gluten antibodies, as well.

If it is an autoimmune problem, the ANA levels do not
indicate which of the autoimmune diseases it might be.
 Those mentioned were lupus, rheumatoid arthritis,
scleroderma, Sjogren's Disease, Hshimoto's, and
fibromyalgia.  Lupus was mentioned by far the most
often.  One person provided the link to the Lupus
Foundation of America:  www.lupus.org

Everyone said that the rheumatologist is definitely
the way to go for further testing to determine if an
autoimmune disorder is the underlying problem, and to
determine which one it is.  There is some treatment
available to offer symptomatic relief.  I was also
told that it is important to catch an autoimmune
disorder early, that it can sometimes be difficult to
get a diagnosis, and that the diagnosis might take
some time, as autoimmune diseases can take years to
present with all of their symptoms.

We’ve got an appointment to follow through.  The
rheumatologist can see her in May.  We’re hoping that
she recovers in the meantime!  At the moment, her
fever is not running as high, but the bronchitis seems
to be back, as she’s coughing a lot again.  She’s not
able to be up and about much without becoming totally
exhausted; and I notice this morning an almost
translucent pallor to her skin.  She is eating a
little better today, but two days ago she was sitting
up and seemed to be doing pretty well when she ate a
piece of pumpkin pie (GF/CF, of course) and, almost
instantly, lost her vitality and developed dark
circles under her eyes.  Given that and our experience
with gluten and casein, I keep thinking there’s some
connection with food . . .

I’ll be reading and learning as much as I can,
obviously, in the weeks to come.  I thank you all very
much for sharing your knowledge and experience!

Deborah in OKC


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