I have a question about blood work for lupus?

I got blood work done for lupus today...an ana and an esr...not really sure what an esr is but the lab tech said it was something to do with internal inflimmation...I wanna know what the tests will confirm or rule out. I have the "mask" and a few other symptoms but as I understand it there is not a 100% test to determine if its lupus or not.

You're right, there isn't a diagnostic test. Drs usually use a host of screening tests to make an educated guess. CRP, ESR and ANA tests are common - but none are paricularly effective.

ESR (Erythrocyte sedimentation rate) measures how fast red blood cells sink to the bottom of test tube in a centrifuge. When inflammation is present, the proteins in blood stick together and get heavy, so sink faster, giving a high rate. Swelling and inflammation can be present for many reasons, so although it shows inflammation it can't tell you why or where. Lupus patients sometimes have a high ESR.

Drs sometimes use CRP (C-reactive protein) as another measure - it's a byproduct of inflammation. Lupus, rhumatoid arthritis and vasculitits patients do not always have raised CRP.

ANA - antinuclear antibodies - produced when the body attacks itself. A normal result is negative. Positive results can be down to SLE, thyroid disorder, myositis and chronic liver disease amoung other things. Some people have a postive ANA, with no signs or symptoms of disease. A weak positive or negative result doesn't rule out Lupus either.

My GP rarely does ANA tests, because you can't draw a conclusion from the results.

So no, the tests can't confirm or rule it out entirely. You're doctor might draw the conclusion you have Lupus if your ESR is high and ANA positive and it's quite likely that he'd be right. (but like I said, it's possible to have Lupus with negative ANA and not have lupus with positive ANA!)

I've got Lupus. My ANA is weakly positive (which Drs read tend to read as negative) and ESR was raised at first but has since fallen into normal range.

I was diagnosed with lupus a couple years ago. Sometimes I have a negative ANA and sometimes I have a positive. One blood test that is a marker for SLE is a double-strand DNA test. That's how the doctors determined that I definitely had it, as opposed to any other autoimmune illnesses. My rheumatologist told me that in extremely rare cases, a rare virus can cause a positive DS-DNA but 99% of the time, it is a maker for lupus. You might want to ask your doctor to run that test, as well. Hope this helps! :)