New Poster Here: What is "High" for Anti DNA TEST?

ibatiger

I won't go into my whole history, but briefly here is a little. I'm a 55 Y.O. male who has always had a sunshine sensitivity. Sometimes breaking out in horrible hives and having to stop exercising and taking benedril for the rest of the day. This has occured intermittantly since I was a teenager. I have been having classic migraine with aura for about 10 years and am fatigued most of the time regardless if I'm having an episode or not. I have a lot of strange "mental" things happening to me not the least of which is poor short-term memory, inability to concentrate and read for any length of time and the inability to get enough rest.

Anyway, a while back I had some tests done and was positive for ANA, CRP, RF and a few others that I can't think of at the moment and don't have here at the house. My GP did a followup which resulted in a positive Anti-DNA (DS) antibody. It was 17 IU/mL with <5 = negative, 5-9 = equivocal and >9 being listed as positive. I also had 7.5 RA Latex Turbid IU/mL on a 0-13.9 scale and .2 IA Antichromatin Antibodies. My GP called me and said I might have Lupus. We discussed my general symptoms, which admitedly are all over the place and somewhat vague, but nonetheless very significant to me, and he told me that he was going to talk to a Rheumatologist and get me an appointment to see him.

In the meantime I read some things that indicated that anti-DNA (DS) was pretty close to being a smoking gun when it comes to Lupus. But when my GP called me he said that the Rheumatologist downplayed everything and said I probably had some kind of "Lupus like" syndrome and to simply repeat the test in six months or so. I think my doc sensed that I was surprised and a little caught off guard. When I suggested that I "do some reading" and come in and see him to discuss it further, he didn't hesitate and said "that sounds like a good idea."

Cutting to the chase, is it possible that all of the things that I've read in the last few days about Anti-DNA antibody are only true if the reading is significantly high enough? No articles ever mention a level. They just say "positive". Anyway, I'm confused. I would think a Rheumatologist would at least want to examine me on the basis of the few things my GP told him about me along with the lab results. And I didn't read anything about a "lupus like" syndrome that could cause a positive anti-DNA antibody reading. Anybody have an opinion one way or the other?

Thanks,

Gregg