Our story is long (I will try and get to the point, but I am a chatter box, sorry) and the ride has been bumpy over the years (sadly it is so very much like so many stories I have read). My wife has been dealing with what she though was normal issues for years and years. 4 years ago she started having numbness in her arms and legs, she would fall down when walking and would say that her leg just would not work. This drove us to the doctors. they chased an MS Dx for a year before giving up and saying that it was not MS and the it was likely Fibro and we needed to see a Rhumatologist ... well after a year of being told it was in her head, negative tests, inconclusive tests, MRIs, on and on, she tossed her hands up and decided to just deal with it.

We recently just had our 3rd child (5mo girl, 6 year boy, 9 year boy) and during the pregnancy she was having heart beat issues, rapid beat, etc. At the time it was dismissed as hormones of pregnancy. Well Pregnancy is over and it continues...we were at the doc for something unrelated and she mentioned it again. Well out came the EKG (test was normal) and blood work. The blood work came back with low White Cells, low Platele Platelets tts, thyroid was off (she is on a med for that, adjusted). Those tests were followed up with more tests. The second round blood work was back to normal, but the results that came back were "possible lupus" and we are headed to a rhumatologist next week. So we got a copy in hand now and this is what we see:

ANA positive Pattern DUAL
1:640 Speckled
1:640 homogeneous

DS anti-DNA Positive (score 11)

All of the reading I am doing, these number are both troubling, alone they may be explained away, but together it seems we are dealing with some Auto-immune issue. so here is a highlight list of symptoms: faint facial rash, unexplained and consistent tooth pain, Joint pain (hips, knees, ankles, wrist, fingers, neck, shoulder) Muscle pain (thigh), migraines, Brain fog (can not complete sentences, forgetful, can't remember words, etc), issues with digestive tract, fatigue, rapid heart beat, numbness (arms and legs), I could go on, but you get the picture.

Currently she deals with it by taking Advil, napping when she can, and just goes through her day with out complaining. she is an amazingly strong 35 year old woman who I plan on spending my life with, and I want that to be a long life. We are excited that we may have an explanation and may get a better treatment program that will hopefully allow her a much better quality of life. We are scared of side effects of drugs, a Neuro gave her a fibro drug 3 years ago that made her so tired she threw it away and gave up on the doctors...that won't happen again, if I can prevent it.

As a side note, her mother recently got a Dx of Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. Her poor mom is suffering much worse that my wife, and I hope that us getting close to a Dx 22 years earlier in life will mean a better prognosis.

any way, hello. Do these test scores seem as big a harbang harbinger as I am reading them as? Or am I putting to much into the tests? We are going to escape to Disney World this weekend, to try and get this out of our minds before our Wed morning Doctor appointment.

Thanks,
Bryan