Do we know what triggers a flare up?

joyful164

I think I am on the verge of a major flare up. I can tell the signs.

I am wondering if, in my case, I have just too much going on in my life at the moment. I just don't seem to have any time to rest, and I know you should. I pushed myself to the limit on Saturday and today, for that matter.

Also, this evening, we were sitting outside and it got really chilly. I went very very cold and started hurting. Could that do it?

As you can tell from the late or early hour of this posting, I cannot sleep because I am in pain and it is getting worse.

Does anyone else know what causes a flare up?

joyful

elnafinn

Dear Joy,

I see this morning looking at the posts that you did not have a good night at all. I am sorry. I hope you were able to sleep a little.
I am sorry you are starting a flare too.

You ask what causes them ..... they do seem to just turn up for what seems no particular reason, unfortunately, but they may occur after an infection, or after a highly stressful situation.

I feel in this case that the latter is the reason for you. Ideally one should get a balance between activity and rest, much easier said than actually carried out (especially if one wishes to sleep and cannot) and you have been exceedingly busy this weekend.

I hope you are not feeling too unwell this morning.

Love
Elna x(())

suzster

i've never really known what causes flare ups but theres a few things i avoid because i've had bad flare ups after, these include artificial sweeteners, (diet drinks and low calorie hot chocolate drinks) also if i over do it.
but i seem to start hurting about 8pm then slowly all my joints start hurting, i know then that i'm in for a bad one.

mistywillow

suzster wrote:

i've never really known what causes flare ups but theres a few things i avoid because i've had bad flare ups after, these include artificial sweeteners, (diet drinks and low calorie hot chocolate drinks) also if i over do it.
but i seem to start hurting about 8pm then slowly all my joints start hurting, i know then that i'm in for a bad one.

Hi Joy
Sorry that you are not feeling so good at the moment. It is as Elna said a fine balance between exercise and rest. Too much rest causes pain and stiffness both in OA and RA but if you overwork your joints that will cause pain too. You get to know your own body as to how much is too much. You have a lot of other difficult things going on in your life at the moment and i am sure that has a huge bearing in how much your poor bod can cope with.
Give yourself some TLC and I hope you start feeling better soon
Gillx

suzster

i still have stiffness and pain but a flare up is much, much worse, i can't even move for pain, thakfully my daily RA although very painful is not as bad as a flare

c4thyg

In my case I have PA so anything that upsets my immune system causes a flare. I find that the worst offenders are viral infections and take weeks to get over.

dachshund

Hello Joyfull.
I'm sorry you have got a flare up i dont know anything about them only what i've read about on the boards from all the kind people that write on here. if it's anything like the aching i have all over i feel sorry for you. lets hope tomorrow is a good day for everyone. take care.
joan xx

sharmaine

The following factors have resulted me having flare ups:
(a) overdoing things without adequate rest in between.
(b) standing or sitting in one place for too long or being on my feet for too long.
(c) being tired, run down and cold.
(d) driving for more than an hour; travelling generally wears me down.

I think you can tell when a flare up is likely come because you just have painful aches in all affected joints. I find the only thing I can do is to lie down and keep warm.

Sharmaine

joyful164 wrote:

I think I am on the verge of a major flare up. I can tell the signs.

I am wondering if, in my case, I have just too much going on in my life at the moment. I just don't seem to have any time to rest, and I know you should. I pushed myself to the limit on Saturday and today, for that matter.

Also, this evening, we were sitting outside and it got really chilly. I went very very cold and started hurting. Could that do it?

As you can tell from the late or early hour of this posting, I cannot sleep because I am in pain and it is getting worse.

Does anyone else know what causes a flare up?

joyful

bailey27

Hi
Hope you get a chance to rest today and you are feeling better soon.

I dont know what causes my flare ups. There is a week span every month that tends to make it worse!!!
However I get random days when I have a flare up and try really hard to think what could cause it but can't pin point what exactly.
I am starting new medication this week and have stopped taking my current meds last night to give my body a chance to detox a bit ebfore the new tabs. Already this morning I have had a flare up of the Raynauds but nothing painful at the moment as i think the drugs are still in my system. Be starting new medication tomorow so hopefully that will sort itself out.

nick55

I seem to have asked this question a few times, but what precisely is a flare up? is it associated purely with rheumatoid arthritis, I have osteo, in hips and knees. can osteo arthritis have a flare up shall we say? I think I need clarification on meanings and definitions on this point, so, any help please? your post is very interesting, by the way.,

Nick

woodbon

Hello I have osteo too, and I don't know if its what you'd call a fare up in the ra way but, sometimes I have anything up to about 2 weeks or so when I'm in much more pain and new pains pop up.
It could well be at stressful times or overdoing things. I don't know if thats the sort of thing you mean. Take care, Sue

skezier

Hi Joyful,

I am sorry everything is happening to you at the moment. You have been under so much worry it probably hasn't helped your flair? I hope it all gets better for you and your family.

I was doing a bit of reading about this, I may have been having one though technically I don't have ra. It doesn't appear to have a real trigger but many things seem to make a flair more likely. Maybe the helpline team can help you on this one? Mine seems to have started sometime back in march and its now backing off, my last crohn's flair lasted the same kind of length of time in it's raging stage but it takes a while to peek and a while to go away and I have found this bone thing much the same time scale.

I might have a better idea in a couple of weeks when I see my Rumo and I am hoping to ask him these kind of questions. Mine is backing off cus I have been on neat penicillin again...... I don't understand any of it really but I do hope you soon find your feeling better and all the problems you are having start to improve as well. take care, Cris ((( ))) x

mistywillow

nick55 wrote:

I seem to have asked this question a few times, but what precisely is a flare up? is it associated purely with rheumatoid arthritis, I have osteo, in hips and knees. can osteo arthritis have a flare up shall we say? I think I need clarification on meanings and definitions on this point, so, any help please? your post is very interesting, by the way.,

Nick

Hi Nick
I think most of us on the site mean that our joint/ joints are particularly painful when we talk of having a flare. The joint/s concerned are usually inflammed (swollen, hot red) although the amount of inflammation does not always correlate with the amount of pain felt and sometimes although the joint is not outwardly showing signs of inflammation, it can still be extremely painful This is because the substances that are released by inflammatory cells are capable of stimulating pain receptors with the resultant sensation of pain. They are sometimes only present in very small amounts but it is enough to hurt!.
Hope this helps.

Joy
Hope you are feeling a bit better now.
Gillx

mash65

hi all,i havent got an answer to this either.
i have oa,but i never seem to have a painfree day,it just goes from bad to cronic.the past wk ive been having to sleep on my back.going to bed is a night mare,ive had about 2hrs max,then got up because the pain is unbearable.ive had to resort to sleeping on the sofa on my back.both sides are so painful to lay on.
today the pain has eased a bit but now ive got styes in my eyes,4 in 1 eye & another foot infection.
so i dont know about flare ups as soon as the pain settles for a few days i get an infection of some sort,then the pain becomes unbearable again.
it seems a vicous circle,pain = flare up,resulting in being run down,then the infections start because your run down. thats how it seems to me.debsx

mistywillow

mash65 wrote:

hi all,i havent got an answer to this either.
i have oa,but i never seem to have a painfree day,it just goes from bad to cronic.the past wk ive been having to sleep on my back.going to bed is a night mare,ive had about 2hrs max,then got up because the pain is unbearable.ive had to resort to sleeping on the sofa on my back.both sides are so painful to lay on.
today the pain has eased a bit but now ive got styes in my eyes,4 in 1 eye & another foot infection.
so i dont know about flare ups as soon as the pain settles for a few days i get an infection of some sort,then the pain becomes unbearable again.
it seems a vicous circle,pain = flare up,resulting in being run down,then the infections start because your run down. thats how it seems to me.debsx

Hi Debs
sorry you are feeling so rough. I presume you have tried golden eye ointment for the styes. If you havent i have found it helpful in the past.
Hope they clear up soon
Gillx

livinglegend

This is one of those things that just happen. Even though a history of morning stiffness or stiffness at rest is a guide to RA, I believe that stress and 'overdoing it' can bring on a flare up.

Beside a feeling of exceptional fatigue, a flare up is where an affected joint/s become hot, swollen and exceptionally painful. While the joint may ache or be painful normally due to joint damage, a flare up is exceptional and erratic and usually lasts several days.

Quotes from http://www.nhs.uk/Pathways/Rheumatoidarthritis/Pages/Avoiding.aspx below:

As clinical scientists do not really know what triggers RA, there is no clear way to avoid it.

RA is an auto-immune disease, which means the body’s self-defence system turns on itself. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, your immune system attacks the cells that line your joints, making them swollen, stiff and painful.

Your immune system is a sophisticated network of cells and tissues which usually produces chemical messengers and cells to fight off things that can harm you, such as viruses. But in rheumatoid arthritis, your immune system attacks your joints.

Joseph 8)

mash65

hi,ive never heard of it,i just soak the styes with hot boiled water,a rub with gold an a cold teabag,all old wife tales i know but sometimes they work.i know when i get up tomorrow my eye will be completely shut,but its the least of my probs.
if it doesnt clear in 2days i'll look into the ointment.
thanks debsx

skezier

Hi Debs,

You ought to get something for them and they will go quicker. See if you can chase up your appointments as well (((( ))) x

mash65

skezier wrote:

Hi Debs,

You ought to get something for them and they will go quicker. See if you can chase up your appointments as well (((( ))) x

hi cris,ive ben on to gps secartey(sp soz as i cant se)she wrot to rhmy on 9th juneasking for bloods,mri scan results & a huury up pain clinic app,i rang them last fri.but said heard nothing so eave it with her she'll chase them up again.
so im gonna ring again mon morning,ive been keeping a diary,if i get no joy im gonna ring rymy sec. tell them to move it.or else.
trouble is ive got app,with CAB on the 20th & ive got no reports for my DLA renewaal,
i fel like a pain keep going back to gp with infection after infection.bt im too knackered to keep fighting.debsx

skezier

Hi Debs,

I am sorry your still no further forward. Give them till Monday and ring the Rumo's secretary and just tell them how bad this is. I screwed up the guts to ring mine and they couldn't have been nicer, mind I am lucky and already in the system I guess.

With you eyes go to the eye clinic and get them to sort it cus they need checking out...... I know I have a hang up on eyes but go just the same please? You hang in there but don't let it go past Monday. x

nick55

reply
this is most helpful. I stopped taking diclofenic as an experiment after my first physio visit. not a very good idea as I found out. my knees were very bad after the first week, quite inflamed and my hip also was becoming very painful, so, this is explained by the post you have just made. it may explain how the inflammation affects the pain receptors, ,
I am fine for now, did a longish walk yesterday and the day before, --- back to the diclo then.

mistywillow wrote:

nick55 wrote:

I seem to have asked this question a few times, but what precisely is a flare up? is it associated purely with rheumatoid arthritis, I have osteo, in hips and knees. can osteo arthritis have a flare up shall we say? I think I need clarification on meanings and definitions on this point, so, any help please? your post is very interesting, by the way.,

Nick

Hi Nick
I think most of us on the site mean that our joint/ joints are particularly painful when we talk of having a flare. The joint/s concerned are usually inflammed (swollen, hot red) although the amount of inflammation does not always correlate with the amount of pain felt and sometimes although the joint is not outwardly showing signs of inflammation, it can still be extremely painful This is because the substances that are released by inflammatory cells are capable of stimulating pain receptors with the resultant sensation of pain. They are sometimes only present in very small amounts but it is enough to hurt!.
Hope this helps.

Joy
Hope you are feeling a bit better now.
Gillx

nick55

I saw the physio for the second time yesterday. she is very nice, very helpful, and basically there is very little they can do save give you exercises. these are very helpful in strengthening and loosening the joints. I will do some every day. but when I walk now, every so often, I feel like my joints at the back are slipping, below the spine , most unpleasant and difficult to describe. every so often I get a painful shock, and if i swore the air would be blue.

as for your own problems it sounds like you have an immune system problem, - simply run down!- or something. also you may be having inflammation. they may be reinforcing each other . are you taking anti inflammatory tablets? I have to all the time or else my joints are really bad as a week a go.
just some thoughts, I am sorry to hear about the sleep problems, sleep is so vital to all of us. again, I would take tramadol or maybe a sleeping tablet

hope you get better soon,

nick

mash65 wrote:

hi all,i havent got an answer to this either.
i have oa,but i never seem to have a painfree day,it just goes from bad to cronic.the past wk ive been having to sleep on my back.going to bed is a night mare,ive had about 2hrs max,then got up because the pain is unbearable.ive had to resort to sleeping on the sofa on my back.both sides are so painful to lay on.
today the pain has eased a bit but now ive got styes in my eyes,4 in 1 eye & another foot infection.
so i dont know about flare ups as soon as the pain settles for a few days i get an infection of some sort,then the pain becomes unbearable again.
it seems a vicous circle,pain = flare up,resulting in being run down,then the infections start because your run down. thats how it seems to me.debsx