Flare ups that spread ?

Synergyzone

Hello - new to this forum but hoping that others may be able to recognise my symptoms . Age 59 male and had Osteoarthritis for about 9yrs . I have flare-ups regularly now starting with knees that turn to concrete and then it spreads to various other parts of my body , normally wrists,hands and back . My elder brother has RA so I got tested for Rheumatoid factor and the B1a gene both of which were negative. Does anyone else suffer this spread with Osteoarthritis? Background pain is always there but accompanying the flare up is crushing fatigue which can go on for a couple of weeks. Is this also normal for OA ?

Have tried everything to help like a lot of people on here I guess and now on a never -diminishing waiting list for more surgery ( have had debridements and osteotomy previously)

Chris_R

Hi @Synergyzone

welcome to the online community,so glad you have found us and are posting and asking questions.

Flare ups are the bain of arthritis sufferers and others will tell you that aswell and will understand what you are going through as we all have arthritis in various forms.Here is a link that may help.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

Please let us know how you get on and do go onto our forums and chat to others.

All the best Christine

Emmasknackeredjoints

Hello. I'm not sure if my story helps you but we can try.

I have constant pain in knees, hip and SIJ. I've been diagnosed with IA . On top of the constant pain I get these strange "attacks"" of unbelievable pain, tightness in both my knees at the same time. My knees are pulled into a tight flexed position, hot to touch and the pai is something you can't imagine exists unless you have been unlucky to exp it.

It happens in both knees at the same time and accompanied with soft spongy feel to my knees.

The SIJ can come on to at this time. The fatigue for that few days is also full on. Just having a shower can feel like I've been up for a month.

I beilive this is a flare of IA . But I don't fully have answers as my markers were normal.

By the way the RF blood test is not indicative of RA . So normal results means nothing on its own. I hope you had full set of bloods and rv of all ur joint pain.

Synergyzone

Thankyou for sharing your experience with me - your symptoms sound awful and you have my sympathy. I’m not sure my symptoms match yours, in particular I don’t get hot joints ( apart from when I had a severe bout of Septic arthritis)

Please excuse my ignorance- I’m guessing IA means Infectious Arthritis? And not sure what SIJ means ?

I rely on Naproxen and Co- codamol but have been told that my kidney function is now compromised as a result . What is your method of pain management ?

Sincerelely hope that you too find more answers to your condition.

Emmasknackeredjoints

O my goodness how did you develop septic arthritis, painful +++.

What a nightmare joint pain is

Apologies I meant IA, inflammatory arthritis. And the SJI is the joint where the spine and pelvis meet. Small joint, massive pain in the **** ( literally) lol.

day to day for me is also naproxen, cocodamol. More so during these events. I don’t have kidney issues but I’m aware long term naproxen can cause damage so I try to limit these when I can

During these big Paul events, pillows under my knees and bed bound for the day is the only way really, but when it eases, then ice packs, heat packs, volterol and very gentle moving.

Inbetween attacks I enjoy warm baths and moving my joints in there, sound mad but it really helps me.

at the moment I’m trying turmeric oil for my joint but it may be a load of nonsense and I’ve fell for the trap. I think arthritis is something people just don’t understand and I’ll try anything so it’s worth a try.

does this help?

Synergyzone

Thankyou for your reply and sorry for taking so long to revisit the site and reply.

Funnily enough I also find a hot Bath is good temporary relief from the pain.

Personally I have found Turmeric , Chondroitin, glucosamine, ginger , fish oil etc to have been no benefit but you don’t know till you try !

I have just had another flare with a blood test crp of 89. Doctor agrees that “something else is going on and has sought some advice from a Rheumatologist- I won’t hold my breath !!

Its strangely nice to know that other people share the same experiences of this pain in the a**e disease. Thankyou again