my wife was just diagnose

[viagoodd]

how long does remission last before it flares up again . also how long does it take to go into remission

[Doug]

These things are variable from person to person. Some people go for decades in remission, others pop in and out. Some people go into remission in two or three months, others never achieve a state that can be described as "remission".

These aren't answers you want to hear, I know, but patience is your best bet. At some point, your wife will wake up, think, "I can't believe how good I feel today!", and she will be on that plateau we call the "new normal" The "new normal" may be a stage in treatment where you start to feel a lot better than before, though your blood and urine tests don't necessarily support your feeling that you must be in remission.

On this forum, because of the wide variability in this remission business, we tend to go for the how we feel test. If we feel well, it doesn't make much difference if the tests say otherwise, other than we might still have to take certain pills a bit longer. Lately, if you are moved from Cytoxan to CellCept, the feeling is you are in the zone where you might be in remission or will be in some time. I'm on Bactrim alone to retain my remission. Again, there are many ways the disease is treated, depending on which stage and what degree of severity the disease reached before treatment began.

I hate to leave you with this seeming double talk, but the disease doesn't follow exactly the same course with each person. Be patient, learn all you can from us on this forum and on the internet, be an advocate in your wife's care, be patient with the progress of the disease, and, until you hit that glorious day when she feels pretty good, live in the day, day by day.

[Sangye]

Very well put, Doug!

[Jack]

I think most of us on here will echo Doug's post. I'm afraid that the progress of Wegener's is not something you can predict. Some quickly reach a stage of remission with little medication. For others (myself included) it takes many years and they still need to take a box full of pills every day. That is not to say that there can't be plenty of good times too. It is often a case of just adapting to a New Normal.

[RCOSSIO]

Elonquently said Dougie

[Doug]

Not as eloquent as when, at the veterinarian's today, I had to explain why my new orange cat's name is Lucy, but a close examination of the cat indicates "she" is a neutered male! This has happened twice to me in my life. I guess he'll be just as happy with his new name, Ginger (after Ginger Baker, the crazed guitarist for some band or other- think it was Cream, blah-blah-blah, so is linked to a cat and therefore appropriate. Hunh????!)

[crackers]

he was the drummer doug.but no matter name still applies.welcome ginger.
john.