lab frequency in remission

[Alias]

I have "graduated" from getting labs monthly for a year or so, then every two months, and as of my eval today I'm told I can have them every three months and have checkups with my doc every six months as long as I am stable and feeling well. Just curious about what others, especially those in drug remission, are doing as far as lab frequency. (By the way my routine labs are CBC, CMP, ESR and CRP.)

[Arleta]

Mine have been every 3 months for several years, with a doctor appointment following a couple days later. This last time I was in he changed it to 3 1/2 months! Progress!

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[Pete]

I'm still doing labs monthly. Since my labs have been pretty stable for two years plus, I'm going to ask my wegs doc about doing them quarterly.

[woz]

I have my blood done every month, fbc,pr3,crp,esr. My pr3 goes up and down between 6 and 13, that's why I have my blood done monthly, I have been in medical remission for over 2 years, all my labs have been good except my pr3, a blood test every month to me is peace of mind.

Regards Woz...

[mishb]

Mine are done every three months, with a GP follow up a couple of days later.
Rheumy appointments are now every 8 to 9 months and ENT appointments are every 8 months, so basically I see either ENT or Rheumy every 4 months.
Ophthalmologist is every 12 months.

Has been this way for a couple of years now, but I do have a script for in between months if I ever need it - thankfully (touch wood) I haven't yet

[blu4runner]

My labs are done on a 3 month interval after my appointment with the doctor. We do them the same day since it's a 4 hour drive each way. I have been off prednisone and had my last rituximab infusion in 4/15

[Debbie C]

I'm like Pete, even through I am in remission and only on pred, she wants them done every month. Which I really don't mind,I would rather be on top of the game then to go 3 months and find something has gone wrong. I see her twice a year or I can call her anytime I have a question.
But congrats to you on making progress.
When I was up at CC last time I did ask her about the PR-3 lab work and she said it really isn't a good marker ( kinda like anca ) and also said to be honest she won't know how to treat it if it came back abnormal. She looks at other things to see if there is an issue.

[SpaceflightAddict]

I am in remission, and I still get labs every 3 months along with a checkup at the rhumey.

[MaxD]

Labs every three months, checkup too. I am in medicated (RTX) remission.

I agree that "graduating" is emotionally hard, especially after a harrowing illness and being totally dependent on our doctors for our well-being.

[drz]

I have been considered in drug induced remission for a few years but sometimes my residual symptoms increase and then so do my monthly labs. If I can get three tests that show a good negative ANCA in a row, then I can cut back to six weeks and then every other month. After a year of this then maybe quarterly labs which would be fine since I need labs that often to monitor my diabetes anyway. Other things that can require monitoring are liver and kidney function and other things too like anemia or infections.

[Alias]

I'm guessing that physician preference on labs could depend partly on the extent of disease in individual patients. In my case, I have "limited" or "non-severe" WG involving only my ears/nose/sinuses. I'm just happy to be giving away less blood to the lab techs for a while. Regarding PR3 and ANCA, I see that some people have this checked regularly. I have not had it checked since diagnosis. The bit of research I've done suggests that some docs think it's important and can be predictive or diagnostic of flares, at least in some patients... but there are also studies that say it is not of much value after diagnosis. Also related to lab issues, my first rheumatologist had me getting the high sensitivity version of the CRP test. Someone pointed out to me that this is 10x too sensitive to have any meaning for WG monitoring. I finally challenged my current doc on this and she concurred and changed me to the regular CRP test.