flares

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tonesp
tonesp Member Posts: 844
edited 26. Aug 2010, 06:32 in Living with Arthritis archive
This was probably discussed before I joined the forum What is a Flare?My condition seems constant but I do get horrible Spasms in bed at night

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  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    For me a flare is when my arthritis becomes active. I have PA, psoriatic arthritis, which is an auto-immune condition. When active my body attacks itself (probably out of boredom) by pumping my affected joints with fluid, making them hot, swollen, more painful and making me feel grotty. The meds I take are supposed to suppress this reaction, but they don't. They have, I must grudgingly admit, reduced the number and severity of flares, but flares still occur and last longer. I'm in one that started weeks ago, when my consultant put me back on 20mg of prednislaone to kick-start me out of it. By now I should be on 7.5mg of steroids (according to her timetable) but I'm on double that. I cannot cope on 12.5 yet, tho I think that time is coming closer. Another symptom of a flare is excessive tiredness, much more than one usually has. Does that help answer your question? DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • angie1973
    angie1973 Member Posts: 248
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    I get flares with my fibromyalgia. I have what I call my constant pain, but during a non flare, it is background pain, which seems to be manageable and I can handle it quite well. During these periods, I sleep a little better too.

    During a flare the intensity of the pain is notched up big scale and everything aches and I get stiff in the mornings, I sleep much, much worse and my whole body feels like it's been in battle for weeks.

    Now having OA as well, the normal flares I have feel a lot deeper in their pain although I think the OA has it's own cycle as people have discussed, I seem to not be in a flare at the moment. The pain is always there and this cold weather is not helping, but I can manage it, I'm not even using my stick at the moment either which is amazing.

    Hard to describe I suppose.... sorry if that didn't help.
    Ange.
    _______________________

    Only 99.9% possessed by the giggle monster.........the other 0.01 % just eats chocolate..
  • shiningstar
    shiningstar Member Posts: 40
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Tonesp

    Im like you my RA just seems to be constant I guess some days are better and some worse but dont have long good spells and the bad spells arent too long either...perhaps I'm just in one long flare!!
    Sorry cant be more help Im not sure I really understand the complexity of RA yet even though Ive had it 22 years...but this forum and the peeps here are certainly helping some of them are so knowledgeable.

    SS