goldenwings

Hiya Judy,

I haven't been on for a while but wanted to reply to your post. Not in a medical way but as a patient with SLE for well over 30 years.

A single test will not bring a diagnsosi of lupus. It depends on a lot of other tests for your doctor to be able to give you a definite yes or no. Here is some information for you :-

ANA of 1:640 speckled pattern?

Speckled - can be associated with SLE - but also with Sjogren’s syndrome, scleroderma, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, and mixed connective tissue disease.

A positive ANA test result may suggest an autoimmune disease, but further specific testing is required to assist in making a final diagnosis. ANA test results can be positive in people without any known autoimmune disease. While this is not common, the frequency of a false positive ANA result increases as people get older.

There are other conditions in which a positive ANA test result may be seen. These include:

Sjögren’s syndrome: Between 40% and 70% of patients with this condition have a positive ANA test result. While this finding supports the diagnosis, a negative result does not rule it out.

Scleroderma: About 60% to 90% of patients with scleroderma have a positive ANA finding.

Raynaud’s disease might also show a positive result on the ANA.

It might also also might show up in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, mixed connective tissue disease and other autoimmune conditions.

So all in all what this means is that you need a lot more testing to give a positive result for lupus. I am sure your doctor will do these tests for you if he thinks they are necessary.

I hope this is of some help to you.

goldenwings

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I am not a medical doctor, I only speak from my own experience of the illnesses I discuss here.