Has anyone experienced an excruciating full body flare?

Hi, (Sylvia)!

First off, I am so sorry you have been experiencing debilitating flares and that they seem to be increasing in frequency. I know some of our members experience severe flares and I hope they see your post and chime in here. Forgive me if I misunderstand, but it sounds like your flares are very severe, but relatively short lived; is that correct? If that's the case, have you been able to pinpoint any triggers that might be causing these flares, like changes in the weather, overdoing it one day, extremely stressful events, etc?

Have you changed medications used to manage your overall RA symptoms? I'm just curious about your situation, as it sounds like something is definitely trigger these intense, brief flares.

Whatever the cause, I do hope the flares quit occuring and that you get some long term relief from the pain!

Best, Erin, Team Member.

Hi Sylvia (). It's understandable to be at your wits end when nothing you are doing is reducing your pain. I noticed you mentioned the various pain treatments you have tried, but not the RA medications. To follow up on what Erin said, have you had a chance to discuss whether it is time to look for a new treatment with your rheumatologist. You have had RA for twenty years, have you been on a relatively consistent treatment that entire time? If so, that is a great run because most treatments don't continue to be effective for that long.

I mention all of this because, besides hopefully helping with the pain, an effective treatment can help avoid further joint damage. My wife, Kelly Mack (a contributor here), was diagnosed at age two, 46 years ago - before modern treatments, with the damage to show for it. She has used a wheelchair since childhood. Besides Kelly, there are numerous other contributors here who know what can happen with uncontrolled RA (I'm tagging for confirmation on this front).

Kelly wrote this article on signs that it is time to change medications: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/when-to-change-medications. I don't want to paint with rose colored glasses. Finding a new treatment can be a trial and error endeavor. Michael did a video here on some of the challenges: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/video/change-add-medication. That said, it is worth a discussion with your rheumatologist and an examination into what the underlying causes of these new flares might be. Best, Richard (Team Member)

Hello Sylvstevo, I too recently experienced a full body flare. I hadn't had one in about 6 years. I attributed it to stress, grief and generally pushing my body too hard. The first couple of days I begin taking steroids. Then I pulled out my tens units after hot showers. I believe what helped the most was when I could actually get some good sleep, which took a few days. After I was able to receive some proper rest it got better. I still had to utilize walking cane for a couple of weeks. It took about a month for it to subside to the point I could walk unaided, however there was still pain. I wore my tens unit wherever I went. When I returned to work I took it there as well. I found from past little flares, tramadol, etc. does not do much for pain.

For pain I utilize steroids, hot showers (if you can), pain patches (Tiger Balm) and tens unit and sleep as much as you can. This eases the pain only but its better than no pain relief.