I know that lab results do not necessarily indicate one's level of disease activity, but mine are the best they've ever been, and, while my fatigue is not as bad as it's been in the past, so many of my other symptoms are here and, combined, are making me feel like garbage.
My ANA, for the first time ever, is NEGATIVE! ESR lower than ever, normal eosinophil count for the first time in several years...everything looks sorta perfect!
While this is pretty awesome news, and causes me to loooooove Plaquenil, it also makes me doubt myself and wonder, as I always do, whether everything is all in my head. I do have physical symptoms that I can't explain, like a low-grade fever and cough and extreme dry mouth for two months, ongoing mouth sores, and the aches on and off and fatigue and brain fog and migraines on and off, but I'm guessing there's no way I can be in a flare. Is this just part of my life now? Why wouldn't it show up anywhere in my bloodwork?
Where does one go from here? Have you ever had awesome bloodwork and still done a short-term course of steroids? I mean, even if I were suffering from bad allergies, I imagine that'd show up somewhere in my bloodwork. Could it be a virus or something?
My doctor (GP/PC) doesn't want to treat me for lupus because she's not a rheumatologist, but her office can't even get the rheumatologist's office to answer their phone or return messages, so an appointment is probably a ways off.
I'm glad I am in really good shape, but it doesn't help me feel any better physically.
Should I, like, try to get out and about now, be more active and not worry so much about resting away a flare? What do you all suggest? How do you handle such things, or what have you heard from your doctors in such a situation?
Thanks in advance for your knowledge/advice!
My ANA, for the first time ever, is NEGATIVE! ESR lower than ever, normal eosinophil count for the first time in several years...everything looks sorta perfect!
While this is pretty awesome news, and causes me to loooooove Plaquenil, it also makes me doubt myself and wonder, as I always do, whether everything is all in my head. I do have physical symptoms that I can't explain, like a low-grade fever and cough and extreme dry mouth for two months, ongoing mouth sores, and the aches on and off and fatigue and brain fog and migraines on and off, but I'm guessing there's no way I can be in a flare. Is this just part of my life now? Why wouldn't it show up anywhere in my bloodwork?
Where does one go from here? Have you ever had awesome bloodwork and still done a short-term course of steroids? I mean, even if I were suffering from bad allergies, I imagine that'd show up somewhere in my bloodwork. Could it be a virus or something?
My doctor (GP/PC) doesn't want to treat me for lupus because she's not a rheumatologist, but her office can't even get the rheumatologist's office to answer their phone or return messages, so an appointment is probably a ways off.
I'm glad I am in really good shape, but it doesn't help me feel any better physically.
Should I, like, try to get out and about now, be more active and not worry so much about resting away a flare? What do you all suggest? How do you handle such things, or what have you heard from your doctors in such a situation?
Thanks in advance for your knowledge/advice!