Anyone with ANA?

liveitloveitdone

We just got news that I was positive for ANA and had a titer of 1:160. My Ob is transferring me to a RE but mentioned about being on baby aspirin. There is not that much information online about it, well there is but not so many personal experiences. Has anyone had a full term pregnancy with it? I have had 2 losses already and just looking for some hope or insight. Thank you! 

Bethbsn06

I have a positive ANA, saw a rheumatologist and failed to get a conclusive diagnosis. I have family with Lupus, but he said my numbers aren't high enough and explained away the other symptoms of joint pain, butterfly rash, etc.

I am on baby Asa daily. This was discovered after my first pregnancy, so I was not on Asa and had no other precautions for dd.

I had a preconception consult with perinatology and see them again at 17 weeks. 

Renee22577

I have a positive ANA for rheumatoid arthritis, don't know what my titer was though, and my OB said they did further testing and I have no active antibodies. No one in my family has/has had RA so this was a shock to me. I am still with my regular OB, there was never any talk about a specialist, and am taking 81mg baby aspirin daily. 

I have had one successful pregnancy 6 years ago and then 3 consecutive m/c's until now. So far my regimen has been working but I have no idea if I was positive for ANA before becoming pregnant with my son in 2005. All I can hope is that the baby aspirin, progesterone, and levothyroxine will help this baby live. Keep in touch, okay?

PotomacSt

first, you should know:

5% of adults are positive for ANAs, but only half of those have an autoimmune disease.

no one knows what being positive for ANA really means.It can be helpful for diagnosing autoimmune diseases because of the association with them, and they can gauge the activity level of the autoimmune disease in someone who's been diagnosed with them. But ANAs, in and of themselves, are not actually known to do or cause anything.

you can test positive for ANAs, then have them go away and test negative a few months later. I've been as high as 1:640, then negative six months later.

 

I'm not sure why your doctor mentioned being on baby aspirin. Like I said, ANAs aren't known to do anything on their own, like cause clotting problems. They are associated with a couple clotting disorders though, and the fact that you've tested positive for ANA plus had losses means you should probably have clotting panels to check for those and see if that is what is causing both. One of them is called Lupus Anticoagulant and the other is Antiphospholipid syndrome. If you have any other symptoms of autoimmune disease, you should also investigate that further. I didn't have fertility issues but I know that there are some REs who specialize in Reproductive Immunology, you might look into that too.

I hope this helps. I have had high levels of ANA and have two autoimmune diseases (Crohn's Disease and immune-mediated thrombocytopenia) and I just had a (mostly) normal pregnancy and a healthy baby girl. Good luck at the RE... ask lots of questions and keep doing your research... getting the right diagnosis and treatment is going to be what will help you get your take-home baby.