Question
Doctor request your help.

Am 28 yr old woman.For over 2 years have morning stiffness.But for last 2.5 weeks,have swelling in wrist,fingers,feet,ankle,knee and elbow with pain,which is severe in morning,interfearing with normal activity.Cant walk properly or open a jar.The pain and stiffness subside marginally by evening.Extremly sensetive to sunlight,get immidiate headache.
Visited a Reumatologist, all tests-SGPT,SGOT,ESR,Blood and urine routine, x-rays and rh are normal.however ana is positive with titer of 1:100+++ and speckled formation. I had got ana done a year back and it was positive but lower titer 1:60.
Reumatologist says no clinical evidence of arthritis,however calls it inflamatory arthritis and has prescribed hcq,methotraxate,calciums,and etoshine.

My mother has SLE,could you pl. help if this could be begining symptom to lupus.If not what type of inflamatory arthritis is this, is it degeneratitve.
Do i need to take a second opinion, if yes , with a Reumatologist / GP.
Thanks a lot for your guidance

Answer
Aparna,

While positive ANA can be a symptom of Lupus it alone is not enough for a lupus diagnosis. Lupus almost always comes with some type of skin rash. Other diseases, such as scleroderma, Sjogren's  syndrome, Raynaud's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune hepatitis, often have a positive test for antinuclear antibodies.

Basically what your rheumatologist is saying is that you have arthritis but it is not showing up as damage to the joints and the test results are not clear enough to diagnosis one specific type. The term inflammatory arthritis is a generic term used to describe autoimmune types of arthritis or any type of arthritis that is causing inflammation in several joints.

It would not be a bad idea to tell you rheumatologist that you want to find out what specific type of arthritis you have and is there anything he or she can do to come up with a more specific diagnosis. And or you can get a second opinion. If get a second opinion it would be best if it came from another rheumatologist.

I wish you the best

Rusty
http://arthritis-symptom.com/lupus/lupus-symptoms.htm