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These antibodies are an expression of overheating within the body that a doctor must take into consideration.
When faced with the presence of positive Antinuclear antibodies (ANA), one often wonders what can be the prognostic meaning for the patient who has them.
Let's keep in mind the fact that ANA could be a sign of a pathology that is of an autoimmune or, at any rate, of an immunological base. Actually, positive ANA's show up ever more frequently in persons who don't necessarily develop these pathologies. Therefore, what is the clinical course of patients who have positive ANA tests without there being any clinical evidence of connective tissue pathologies?
A Canadian study (Myckatyn SO and Russell AS, Rheumatol 2003 Apr; 30:736-9) performed on 116 patients with high ANA values (equal to or greater than 1:640) without any evidence of connective tissue pathologies, showed that only a very small number of patients later developed one of these pathologies (scleroderma, CREST, or Sjogren's syndrome). Over half of the patients registered a disappearance of the antibodies within 5 days. In any case, a third of these patients complained of arthritis, while one tenth had non-lupus related skin rash, and another tenth had Raynaud's disease.
If on the one hand this news is comforting, it's still important to remember that these antibodies remain a signal of overheating within the body (see related articles under the titles Food Intolerances , Generalized Inflammation and Stress) that a doctor must take into consideration. Therefore, they shouldn't simply cause fear, but must be taken as a warning that shouldn't be overlooked. In cases such as these, non-invasive intervention such as the modification of diet and general habits can bring about a swift return to equilibrium
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