lip biopsy and steroids-Rheaumie opinion

[cinmac]

Hi to all,

I saw my rheaumie today.  He is Dr. Radis of Portland, ME and although I don't know that much about him, I can say he is very well thought of in our community.  I asked him about whether or not steroids can affect your lip biopsy and his answer was he believes it could, if you have been on more than a small dose for at least several weeks prior to the biopsy.  His thinking was that lymphocytes rushing to your glands is an inflammatory process.  Steroids reduce inflammation and keep more inflammation from occuring while u r taking them.  Therefore, you may end up with a lower lymphacyte count than you might have had without steroids. He told me to wait 4 wks before having my biopsy cuz I have been on 60 mg which is a fairly high dose.

I'm sure there are a dozen docs out there who would disagree, given the nature of the beast and our crazy med system, but I am going to wait until mid June for mine, because it at least sounds sensible.  However, if u r really really ill at that moment, maybe your body is pumping out lymphocytes like crazy and you'll still meet criteria.  One more thing to talk about with your doc.

cinmac

[Scottietottie]

Hi cinmac 

What your rheumy says certainly seems to make sense. I'm glad you have one that's well thought of. Good docs can make all the difference.

Take care - Scottie 

[lynnmarie219]

It makes sense to me...I know my rheumy did not prescribe any medicines (not even plaquenil) until after I had the lip biopsy done...so I do believe that certain meds (especially ones that relieve inflammation) could alter the test results.

This is my own opinion...I'm not a doctor...maybe someone will come along that can explain it better!

[eyeamdry]

If there is even a tiny chance something (med or otherwise) could compromise the outcome of a lip biopsy, wait and do it later.  This is not something you want to have done for fun.  It's easier for some than others, but still a medical procedure.

If you took prednisone and that "may" effect the outcome, then that puts more than one thing into the issue.  The results are subjective and at times a reading can be called "negative" by one dr and "positive" by another dr.  It happened to me. The very same scientific slide was ruled negative by a dorky doc, then 4 of my docs said it was positive.  So, there you go. 

If/when you have a lip biopsy, you want it to count.  Lucy