The granular, cytoplasmic staining pattern of c-ANCA

Yesterday I met with my rheumatologist to follow up on the joint pain I have been experiencing in my knee’s and ankles. It is not uncommon for Sarcoid (Sarcoidosis) sufferers to develop rheumatoid arthritis, together with diabetes, and a number of other aliments. Thankfully I have been lucky thus far and show no signs of any of these.

My consultant is of the opinion that the joint pain is a direct result of my reduced immune system and the Sarcoid, and as I get better so the pain will subside which is exactly what appears to be happening.

I am now much more mobile and the pain, especially first thing in the morning, has all but gone. If anything I now just ache, but even that subsides once I start moving around.

Now for the but…..you knew it was coming right? My last blood tests came back with a Positive C-ANCA marker, which is an indicator of Wegners, something I thought had been taken off the table.

When I was initially diagnosed with Sarcoid (Sarcoidosis) my consultant also believed there was a chance I had a variant of Wegners, but both sarcoid and Wegners share some of the same symptoms and steroids are used to treat both conditions. The only real test was to treat the Sarcoid with steroids knowing they could suppress the Wegners if it was indeed present, and then as I withdrew from the steroids monitor my blood tests for signs of Wegners again. Up until now all the tests have been clear, and we all believed that the Sarcoid was the underlying cause.

So the positive C-ANCA marker is not a good sign, but there is a strong possibility that it is a false positive, as the tests are carried out by a lab technician with the aid of a trusty microscope. A false positive C-ANCA test is lot less likely than the alternative P-ANCA, but they are now going to re-run the blood tests specifically looking at the C-ANCA marker. The tests themselves will take between 4-6 weeks to come back, as they are processed as a batch so the lab technicians can get a better comparison.

So now I am waiting again. The thing that I hate, but am getting rather used to.