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Hi Walt,
I've been writing to you off and on concerning a few symptoms/lab results.
*I had intermittent swelling of the left knee for 4 years (doctor originally thought I had Poststreptococcal Arthritis... since then it was determined that I did not). I had arthroscopic surgery (synovectomy) and have been happy with the results, no swelling.
*My ASO and Anti-DNase B were very elevated. Doctors have said I am possibly a "carrier" of Strep, but that it wasn't causing the swelling.
*Then I had one short week of mild heart palpitations. Got that checked... I have mild MVP, but no associated thickening or any other problem. The doctor said there was NO rheumatic heart association! They agreed with you about it being a common variant (after I brought it up).
*The cardiologist did have a few more labs run to be safe because of my clinical history. There was a slight effusion around the heart (also considered normal). All of the labs were fine, except my ASO was still very high - 1,000 something (highest it's ever been, but no physical symptoms). Also my complement C3 was low (66) (normal is 88-201).
*I most recently went to an immunologist (a good one). He ordered some labs:
C2 - normal
C3 - was 43 (lower than ~ 2 months ago)
C4 - is pending (they tested C2 by accident, so I'm going in today for more labs). Previous C4 was only a couple of points low.
IgA - normal
IgG - normal
IgM - normal
Rheumatoid Factor - normal
*He's not sure why these labs are abnormal when I feel healthy.
**I had been doing 2LS for 6 months (miss alot of the SR of the program). I started adding some cheats back and have felt fine. (Although I did have a period of about 1 month of consistent headaches (back of head pressure) and neckaches). I got rolfed 2 times so far, so we'll see. No pain for about 1-2 weeks now.
***My question is: Could my complement level C3 be so low because my body is fighting some type of systemic Strep antigen. I am wondering if that is why my antibody titer is so high. That ther is really nothing autoimmune going on, but rather a true, appropriate body response to an antigen. I am not sure why I don't feel bad, maybe it's low level. I did have recurrent strep throats when I was younger. Or maybe I am a carrier or maybe this is a low level, underlying, brewing autoimmune type thing that I can nip in the bud by a continued wellness lifestyle (focusing on improving my SR to my practice).
I know this is complicated, but any ideas???
Thanks,
Leigh