Advice please re. R.A. hip flare

Jdrake

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in December last year following flares in hips and wrists. I have been on methotrexate since and have thankfully been pain free since then until Friday evening. I am now experiencing another flare in both hips and am in a lot of pain if I attempt to walk or move in bed. My consultant said to call if I had another flare but as it's the weekend I won't get hold of anyone until Monday. My question is, should I go to A&E to see if they will provide steroids to hopefully get flare under control or should I just wait until tomorrow and see what the rheumatology team say then. I'm taking paracetamol but it's not helping.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Sharon_K

Hi @Jdrake

welcome to the community, sorry to hear that you are presently flaring acutely in your hips. As far as going in to A&E today, I really couldn't advise you. All I can say is you are likely to wait in an uncomfortable waiting room for a lot of hours. There are not guarentees that they will start you on steroids either. Equally waiting until tomorrow will not be easy. As this is your first flare since diagnosis it is going to be difficult to manage but will hopefully not last too long. Are you taking all the painkillers you have been prescribed? I always found I need to take my maximum dose at these times. I really hope you are able to get hold of your team as soon as possible and hopefully you can plan with your rheumatologist what would be the best course of action if it happens again. Meanwhile this might be useful

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/november/ways-to-help-manage-hip-pain/

let us know how you get on

Best Wishes

Sharon