been reading about how flares are actually defined and i’m confused. most studies focus on inflammatory markers (ESR, CRP, complement, all that) but my rheum basically ignored my labs last month. my anti-dsDNA was up when my knees went bad, she said “yeah that can happen” and moved on. so is it a flare if i can’t bend my knees and my hands are swollen but ESR/CRP look fine?
been tracking this obsessively bc the inconsistency messes with me. three times this year my markers were normal when i felt wrecked. twice they were elevated when i felt basically fine. i read some stuff saying the gap between labs and actual symptoms is just…
part of autoimmune disease. cool. real helpful. but nobody explains what you DO with that information.
how do YOU call it? do you push your rheum when labs and symptoms don’t line up, or do you just accept it? genuinely asking bc i’m tired of feeling dismissed when my bloodwork looks clean but i’m hurting.