Looking For Answers (please help, I'm a mom of 2 small children)

Hi everyone. I was hoping that maybe someone could help me here on this forum. My family doc referred me to a rheumatologist but she can't see me for 3 weeks. My last blood tests were as follows:

White Blood Cell - Low out of range
Red Blood Cell - Low Out of Range
Red Distribution Width - Low out of range
Platelets- Low almost out of range
Antinuclear Antibodies - POSITIVE
AUTOIMMUNE DIFF - ABNORMAL
EPSTEIN BARR - ABNORMAL range is 0-17.9 and mine was 296
NEGATIVE FOR : MONO, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, and THYROID PROBLEMS

For about the last 10 months I have been having severe fatigue, some days staying in bed for hours and hours, my hair is falling out in clumps in the shower, I am having night sweats off and on, headaches, muscle weakness and spasms, only one side of my tongue is swollen, pain in some joints like knee, hip and shoulders. Lumps coming up under the skin on hands and then disappearing, but one lump near my collar bone that is staying put. Very tender when I touch it. Sometimes I have burning pain in my right breast and sharp shooting pains in my abdomen that feel like they go all the way to my back. Also- some pain under my right armpit.

Does anyone have an idea what this might be? My doctor said she didn't think it was lupus because I have never had a rash in my life and the lumps do not sound like lupus. I am hoping they will be able to rule out Lymphoma, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Amyloidosis, Lyme, and Leukemia. But it is just frustrating that I have to wait so long and I stay home and take care of my 2 precious babies all day but I feel so horrible right now. Please help! Any answers or guesses would be very appreciated.

Unfortunately, we aren't doctors just regular old Lupus patients so we aren't even qualified to "guess".

Don't know what your "lumps" might be. Are they hard or do they have fluid in them?

I don't quite understand your Dr saying "it's not Lupus cause you don't have a rash" -- that's pretty crazy, Lupus comes with and without rashes, it isn't really that common a symptom.

Your blood counts being so low & out of range seems like it'd be some sort of blood issue, and that would certainly account for you feeling like crap. We don't function if our blood isn't doing it's job!

Hang in there till your appointment -- perhaps you could call and get on a cancellation list and maybe be seen sooner?

Best wishes,

Diagnosed 2002, had some really difficult periods, especially with major cognitive dysfunction. Thankfully Cellcept made my Lupus go "quiet" around 2010-11 or so. (Rheumatologists don't say "remission".)

Symptoms included but not limited to severe fatigue, hair loss, night sweats, day sweats, muscle aches/pains/weakness, burning joints, major cognitive issues.

But I don't recall ever having the low blood counts you are seeing. I haven't heard of those being associated with Lupus before...

The homogenous pattern is the one most commonly seen in healthy individuals who have positive ANA tests. A speckled pattern is found in SLE and other connective tissue diseases.

Check out Lupus 101 for more info on ANA.