I wanted to restate what both Sandra and KC have said in case others are
not following all the threads (after all, it's hard to keep up with
every response).

I do recommend reading Sandra's response to Abby "ANA question - really
scared please help".

All I want to do is add a list of the titrationes so that people can get
an idea of what "high" is vs. "low" - as Sandra explained, the test is
done by titrating your plasma.  The last titration (dilution)  that is
positive is the where the doctor gets his number from.  and hopefully
elucidate the titration process but probably not.. :P

Neat:  no dilution
1:40 - first dilution - usually considered the standard for "negative"
if this is your only positive titration.
1:80 - 2nd dilution - some labs consider this the starting point vs.
1:40
1:160 - 3rd dilution - a "positive" result but often thought to be false
positive
1:320 - 4th dilution - less likely to be a false positive but some docs
still ignore it
1:640 - 5th dilution - where docs start to draw the line and admit that
something is probably going on - what? becomes the question
1:1280 - 6th dilution - positive beyond doubt but not "high"
1:2560 - 7th dilution
1:5120 - 8th  - a very high ANA titre

and it goes on from there.  theoretically ANA tires could go into the
100's of thousands though I doubt that has ever happend (which would be
only the 13th dilution).  I have heard of people with titrations in the
10s of thousands.  which would be your 9th-12th dilutions.  each
dilution is "double" the previous.  It's a bit hard to explain how
dilutions/titrations are done unless you've done them in college
chemistry or worked in the field.

so, in the first dilution you've diluted the plasm by 40X it's neat
concentration (1:40).  Then you dilute it again by taking 1/2 the volume
of the 1:40 dilution and adding an equal volume of diluent (the liquid
used to dilute the plasma). This is continued until the test reveals a
negative response (one of the dilutions/titrations will not show a
reaction to the test)

and Sandra's comment
I just wanted to add to the other comments that I have a friend whose
mother had severe rheumatoid arthritis, also with a sky high RF.  Her
daughter (my friend) though has had a fairly high ANA plus a high
positive RF for many
years, and yet still shows absolutely no physical signs of an autoimmune
disease. She does sort of watch for symptoms suggestive of it, but says
that nothing has surfaced.

What I'm trying to show you is that the amount of the titer itself
doesn't necessarily correlate with the severity of disease.   In fact,
having a positive ANA titer in itself is not even diagnostic.  It's
especially common to
find positive titers in children of parents with lupus or RF.  Not all
of them, however, go on to develop an autoimmune disease themselves.   I
don't know what your diagnosis will eventually be, but it may not be as
bad as you fear.