I've been experiencing muscle aches, joint aches, fatigue, anemia at times, etc. and my bloodwork came back with low Vitamin D and positive ANA. The ANA is what has me confused. Everyone on here and every site registers the measuresments to be reported as 1:40, 1:80, 1:160, 1:320, etc. and I do understand the process. I went to LabCorp to have it done and this is what I received:

Antinuclear Antibodies direct (Final) out of range - 180 High AU/mL

Negative <100
equivocal 100-120
Postive >120

Can anyone shed any light.......I'm trying to figure out just how high this is. From everything I'm reading it doesn't seem majorly high, but I'm just not sure of this labs process and don't know.......Anyone????

Also, I have a Rheumatologist appt. on August 11 and got more blood tests today for more specific results:

ANA w/ reflex titer & Pattern
anti DS dna anti SM Ab
Anti Rl anti La anti RNP

So now I wait.........but after so long with the body aches and fatigue I'm just glad that at least I finally have a direction to go in to maybe start feeling better. Thanks for any input.

Hi, cb. In his lupus hardcover (available in most libraries), Dr. Daniel Wallace writes the phrase "greater than 1:1280 or greater than 30 International Units". That suggests other measuring schemes, but (sorry!) I don't know what they are.

Thing is, the Dx of these diseases doesn't rely on just ANA. Thus even if you knew what your reading means, that's only one small bit of your emerging picture. The more specific blood tests you just had hopefully will add more insight, then other tests & symptoms add more (urinalysis, skin problems, a detailed lifetime medical history, etc.) To see the variety of things that go into a lupus Dx, check out the "sticky posts" (permanent info posts) at the top of the thread list. And beyond those things, there are many other things common in lupus.

Maybe there is a good question to ask: In what autoimmunes or other conditions does ANA tend to be very high? For example, I *think* I've read that ANA can be very high in Sjogren's Syndrome, for one. But I'm only a patient who likes to read; and what you need are doctors---good ones! I hope you post updates when you can. GOOD LUCK! Sincerely, Vee