I meant to say if steroid injections could askew the lab results...sorry...I also have carpal tunnel and my hands go numb when I type...between the numbness and my big fat fingers, I can never type correctly!

Hi, angiern2010, and welcome to this forum of nice people. I hope you will be encouraged here. Not being a doctor, I can't authoritatively answer some of your questions. But I do know that prednisone (oral steroid) can skew some tests, because a couple doctors told me that. Let me make a few suggestions. (1) Keep a food & health log to see if there is a connection between what you eat, your symptoms, and how you feel. For me I discovered that gluten, artificial sweeteners, and too much refined sugar, all affect my inflammation levels. Gluten attacks my muscles and exacerbates my polymyositis. (2) Check into a supplement called Lauricidin. My medical doctor is integrative, and she recommended the Lauricidin for my EBV. It has really helped keep the EBV under control, plus helped lessen my pain. (3) Do a lot of research, and create a list of concerns and questions before each doctor appointment.

You mention that your results don't make sense. One of my doctors told me that blood work can change from moment to moment. He suspected that I had lupus for a long time, but my ANA was always negative. He then mentioned that it took 20 years for one patient's blood work to show lupus and RA. In my case, it took a couple skin biopsies on a chronic rash to verify lupus.

I found it interesting that you had steroid injections in a shoulder joint. My shoulders are often the first indicator that lupus is trying to flare. One or both will begin to crack and pop, and within a few days there will be other problems cropping up that are lupus related. Best wishes to you. And please keep us informed of your progress.

Hi I haven't been diagnosed with lupus but was told I had a connective tissue disease once.I think then they took the diagnosis away from me.it can be very difficult to get a diagnosis.
The adhesive capulitis. I think that's also know as a frozen shoulder? Not sure but I've had that in my right shoulder fora year and a half so painful!I also had an injection n the shoulder. .
Your ferritan is really high I think. Is that too much iron? I know when I was anemic mine got done to a 4 extremely low
I have a positive Ana too.I was told it was from my auto immune hashimotos.that the auto immune thyroid disease can cause a positive Ana. Your high too indicates hashimotos..I don't know anything about the other labs. I hope you can get it sorted I don't know if the injections would skew results.

High ferritin levels can indicate hemochromatosis. Ask about that! You can get DNA testing for that. If you have it, you will have problems with your organs. My brother has it and I have the genetic markers so am tested frequently. It can be controlled.
Mary Ann

Hi Angie,

Welcome, I can totally understand how baffling labs can be and how they can not make sense to me or to my doctor, but that's lupus (not saying you do or don't have lupus). In your question regarding steriods I would say they can absolutely have an effect on lab results, that's been my experience in the past anyhow. If you received a shot, that is meant to be a long lasting/reacting steriod so it would be in your blood stream, especially give you had 3. Do you have copies of previous lab draws to take to your doctor or for your own peace of mind to compare?

Wishing you the best, hope no matter what label they put on it your doctors are able to find some answers and get you some relief.

Hugs to you.
Melissa

How did your appointment go?
Mary Ann

Thank you all so much for your replies! I wasn't none too impressed at my appointment. He once again seemed very rushed and although I had my questions and concerns written out so I could get straight to the point, I could tell he didn't want to answer everything. I do, of course, have Hashimoto's. He is referring me to an endocrinologist for that issue. As far as everything else, he said he wanted to wait and see what endocrinologist says. He gave me another shot of Toradol (which did absolutely nothing whereas the steroid shot last time was amazing). I'm already taking Synthroid and my TSH, T3, T4 are all good so not sure what the endocrinologist will be able to do. I won't see my rheumy again for 12 weeks. I'm concerned that he didn't seem concerned at all about some of the other labs!

@angiern2010
Thanks for the update, and sorry to read of your appointment. Many of us have had similar experiences. It's discouraging and frustrating. Let us know the results of your endo appointment. Best wishes for a better experience.

Thank you, Nanny1611

Howdy,

I saw your lab results and I'm glad that the doc at least caught the Hashi's. I have more than one A/I disease as they usually run in packs. That might be the case for you. However, it's unusual for a doc to dx more than one disease in one office visit. They tend to watch over time to see what's going on.

I was in such bad shape, that I got tagged with 3 in the first visit, but I was hospitalized, so there's that. Then two more later on. And I had a group of doctors...not just one.

I will invite you to come on over to the hypothyroid forum on this site. It's a great bunch of folks who seem to know what they're talking about.

If you wouldn't mind sharing - what is your Free T3/Free T4 and TSH. Please list the range (should be on the lab report) and the results (should be on the lab report). I can help you interpret them.

As I've learned the hard way: "Normal" on a lab result does not equal "normal for me".