Please teach me about flares
Hello, I am newly diagnosed with sudden onset seronegative RA. I had 44 days of swelling and pain culminating in hospitalization on suspicion something more serious was going on. Many, many tests and RA was left standing as the diagnosis. Starting MTX tomorrow. Docs assume this experience was a flare. I read about flares but there is a lot of vagueness about their length and severity. Would be grateful to hear first person accounts about your flares. Mine made me miss my son's wedding and meds couldn't stop the pain. Thank you in advance.
Hi
. First, let me say that it is good to hear that you received a diagnosis and will be starting treatment. Second, It is not surprising that what you read about flares seems vague or describe multiple possibilities (probably, much like this article: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/what-is-ra/ra-flare). This is largely because not only can they be different from person to person, but they can be different for an individual from episode to episode. Leanne describes the great flare debate and, particularly, the trouble for patients early after daignosis: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/the-great-flare-debate. This does not mean that you will not learn to understand when it is happening or at least when you need to take some action for self-care. There is even some research into ways to help patients determine, scientifically, if a flare is happening and Rick wrote about it here: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/flare-up-prediction. Until such research leads to real available tests, unfortunately, the best method will be experience. Hopefully, after you start treatment things will level off and you will better be able to tell when symptoms start to get out of whack (others here will verify that this is a scientific term in this case). Please feel free to keep us posted on how you are doing and to ask questions - this community is here for you. Best, Richard (Team Member) Thank you for the response Richard and for the articles which were all informative. Looks like RA is a bit of a "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" situation. Thanks again, JP
Chocolates are way better than this! 😀
I was diagnosed a little over a year ago. Afterward, I had one really bad flare around Thanksgiving, but have been relatively steady since then. I have individual joint pain that lasts for 24 hours and moves around after that (I.e. Migratory Arthritis) but that's more of a minor irritation (relatively speaking). My initial flare was painful and terrifying as I had no idea what was going on (I had never even heard of Rheumatoid Arthritis) and I was basically paralyzed with pain first thing in the morning. Lots of swelling, especially my wrists.
In my experience, there are 2 important things: First, it took a long time for the meds to become effective, so patience is good (even though it is difficult). There is definitely a trial and error process, as what works for one may not work for another. I take two meds (Sulfasalazine and Leflunomide) and they seem to be doing pretty well now, but it took 7-8 months to get there.
Second, my Rheumatologist has given me one short course of steroids (Medrol) in my pharmacy queue, so that if I have a flare I can order them right away. In my experience, that works to calm a flare within hours. I haven't needed that in 6 months, knock on wood.
When you feel better, walk and stretch and do whatever you can to keep moving. In my experience sitting too long leaves me stiff. Moving helps. Warm baths and/or hot tub feel great (some people don't like heat but it helps me a lot).
Best of luck to you.
