Hi I'm New and Not dx. MY Lab work for RA has two diferant noumbers and I need help figuring them out.
First : then says 20 iu/ml:borderline reactive
Second : 40 iu/ml weakly reactive Then says 80 iu/ml or greater;reactive
Help LOL
You can check this site: http://arthritis.about.com/cs/diagnostic/a/bloodtests.htm
But it is best to wait until you speak with the doctor. There are so many factors, including his examination, your medical background, etc. I know it is hard to wait, but guessing is not going to help much. They do all kinds of blood work and most of it is to monitor how you are progressing and what the medications are doing to your body.
It may take awhile before they get to a definitive diagnosis. It definitely did for me. At first they thought I had Lupus, but I definitely have RA based on many criteria.
Try not to worry too much. That is so hard to do, it's almost not worth saying.
There are so many factors in figuring out arthritis and the blood work is only a part. Crunchy can probably expalain the numbers to you, but I can't. If they want to talk to you it maybe means the bloodwork indicates some inflamatory arthritis . Many people have both OA and RA, or another kind of arthritis. THere are over 100 different kinds and it sometimes takes a lot of time to diagnose some of them,my guess is that you are going to have a dx of RA but that is just my guess---The doctors never cease to suprise me with the dx that they decide on. The link that Deanna posted is pretty good in explaining the various blood tests that are used. Of course as linda said, blood work is (or should be) only part of the diagnostic process. Keep us updated on what the doc says.
Thanks Kathy