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Can Lupus Be Asymptotic?
Question: I'm a 50 year old male in good health. I went in for a physical and my doctor tested my blood. He tested for everything including for Auto immune via and A&A test which ended up positive (score was 2.5). He then had an additional test done for Anti dsDNA which also tested positive for Lupus (score 25). I have no symptoms of Lupus and have never had any in the past. Is it possible that I actually don't have Lupus? Can these tests have a false positive?
Brief Answer:
ANA interpretation
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Thank you for writing on health care magic
Well, yes it a high chance that the results are false positive. ANA tends to become positive as we keep aging, so it may not have much significance if you dont have any symptoms.
As for DsDNA it is specific for Lupus, but then again we dont give much importance to it if you dont have any symptoms.
A couple of things I would like to know more here...
1. Did they check your urine routine?
2. Did they check for complements( C3 and C4)?
I think they have performed the ANA by ELISA which is normally not used anymore. If you could attach the report , that would be helpful...
Do let me know these queries
Regards
Dr Naval
ANA interpretation
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Thank you for writing on health care magic
Well, yes it a high chance that the results are false positive. ANA tends to become positive as we keep aging, so it may not have much significance if you dont have any symptoms.
As for DsDNA it is specific for Lupus, but then again we dont give much importance to it if you dont have any symptoms.
A couple of things I would like to know more here...
1. Did they check your urine routine?
2. Did they check for complements( C3 and C4)?
I think they have performed the ANA by ELISA which is normally not used anymore. If you could attach the report , that would be helpful...
Do let me know these queries
Regards
Dr Naval
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
No urine test and no c3 or c4 testing done. Everything on web about positive Ds-dna test is not very encouraging. Like I said, I have none of the symptoms that I read about on lupus websites. How is it possible to have a positive D's-dna test and not have lupus?
Brief Answer:
ANti DsDNA
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Sorry for the late reply. Just finished my duty
Oh well, if you read up on the google it is gonna give you the worst case scenarios possible. Anti DsDNA is specific for lupus, no doubt but we treat the patient and not the antibody. If you go through a whole check up, 5 % people can have false positive results.But we dont treat them if they dont have any symptoms cause once the medicines started and someone labels u as Lupus, there is no stopping of the medicines and it goes on life long.
At this stage, I would suggest you get a Urine examination and complements done as well.
2. Just be under a close observation of a doctor and you can repeat the tests after 3 months time to see if becomes negative or if it evolves any further.
For now, I dont think you need treatment and you can take it at ease. Since you know the symptoms of lupus, just keep a look out incase something crops up...But without stressing yourself
Hope the information was useful
DO let me know for more queries
REgards
Dr Naval
ANti DsDNA
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Sorry for the late reply. Just finished my duty
Oh well, if you read up on the google it is gonna give you the worst case scenarios possible. Anti DsDNA is specific for lupus, no doubt but we treat the patient and not the antibody. If you go through a whole check up, 5 % people can have false positive results.But we dont treat them if they dont have any symptoms cause once the medicines started and someone labels u as Lupus, there is no stopping of the medicines and it goes on life long.
At this stage, I would suggest you get a Urine examination and complements done as well.
2. Just be under a close observation of a doctor and you can repeat the tests after 3 months time to see if becomes negative or if it evolves any further.
For now, I dont think you need treatment and you can take it at ease. Since you know the symptoms of lupus, just keep a look out incase something crops up...But without stressing yourself
Hope the information was useful
DO let me know for more queries
REgards
Dr Naval
Note: For further information on diet changes to reduce allergy symptoms or to boost your immunity, Ask here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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