I started getting sick last December (so about 9 month ago). It started out with fever, achiness, and yeast infections.

I have not felt right since.

They ran a gizillion tests on me and the only that showed up originally was a positive ANA count. It was low (1:80) so my doctor was hesitant to say Lupus. They sent me on to a neurologist, who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia.

That was questionable for me because I still had fevers and nothing I have ever read about fibro causes fever.

Well, I started feeling a bit better about mid June- this lasted for about a month when I developed adult onset asthma and severe allergies out of the blue.


Then, about 4 weeks back, I started running fever again and had a horrible sore throat. Went to the doctor thinking I had strep but strep was negative.

I ended up going back in last week because the fever/sore throat general "achiness" never went away.

Doctor found a "goiter" in my thyroid so decided to run some blood work. My thyroid levels ended up being fine but I showed positive for Epstein Barr.

Not only positive, but my numbers were extremely high (should be near 100 and mine were nearly 3,000!).

Dr. did not run any tests on my ANA so I haev no idea what my recent numbers are but I am feeling that same "sick" feeling I had months back again.

I go back in this week for more tests and have noticed strange rashes popping up all over my body. I've even had that "butterfly" rash across my face when my fever has spiked.

Anyone have any idea if Epstein Barr can trigger lupus or vice versa?

Do I have two seperate diseases or are they correlated possibly?

Hi, Spriggy.

My understanding is that just about everyone tests positive to EBV, most of us having been exposed to the virus at some point.

EBV elevates in mononucleosis, I think. My nephew just got Dx'ed with same, with high EBV level, fairly high fever, swollen glands, sore throat, fatigue, etc. Not sure whether that can cause a positive *ANA*, though. Some viruses can, it's written. So that would be a good question to ask your dr., maybe.

That said, I've read that very high EBV is seen in many lupus patients. Whether it's "causal" or a "by-product" was, last I read, not clear. My own reading was so high prior to the lupus Dx that my GP talked to some virologists about it. But I never had swollen glands, sore throat, etc., i.e., the things we associate with mono. And, weirdly, I never had a positive ANA either---only positive anti-Ro, eventually.

Also, do you know what ELSE you were tested for, in addition to ANA? Blessed4Life, a few weeks back, posted some very good info from a well-known rheumie. He stated flat-out what many of us have wondered about: it IS better to run autoantibody tests, complement tests, etc. at the *same time* as ANA. It seems ANA is not so foolproof, PLUS certain antibodies & complement aberrations can show up even when ANA is negative or weakly positive.

Hope you get answers quickly. Good luck, from Vee