can someone educate me as to what exactly is a flare up

nickynysmon08

I hear this term so often now but still am in ignorance as to what precisely a flareup is. last night I had inflammation in my knees that just started in bed, felt like they were on fire, hard to sleep, at first, no drugs taken, ( it will have to be really bad before I use the few tramadol I have left. I hope never.) but I assume a flare up is to do with rheumatoid arthritis am I right?
I have osteo, knees - and hips,
but not like some of you may I say. it saddens me greatly hearing what some of you have to go through.

frogmorton

Hi Nick
I suppose a flare up is when your symptoms are out of control and worse than 'usual'.
For those of us with RA it usually lasts for a while days+, but everyone is different and may be also likely to be 'ill' with feverish symptoms and severe exhaustion too. Don't know so much with OA, but it does sound as though you were in real pain if you resorted to tramadol. Poor you
I do hope you feel better soon
Take care
Toni x

kezzo1

a flare up for me is when im in agony almost crying the joint is really warm and i cant walk prop or do anything only had 2 real big ones where i thought i nearly had to go to hosp was that worried and in pain, dont know if everyones is like this? but apart from that i usually pretty ok and normal functioning apart from odd stiffness and cracking noises.

scattered

When I'm flaring I run a low grade temperature, my joints swell, radiate heat and are very painful, my morning stiffness increases and can turn into all day stiffness, I feel unbelievably tired - to the point of feeling physically sick - and generally unwell.

In 'proper' terms a flare up is an increase in disease activity which is outside the boundries of 'normal'. Some can last only a few hours but most last at least a few days, sometimes weeks or months.

nickynysmon08

frogmorton wrote:

Hi Nick
I suppose a flare up is when your symptoms are out of control and worse than 'usual'.
For those of us with RA it usually lasts for a while days+, but everyone is different and may be also likely to be 'ill' with feverish symptoms and severe exhaustion too. Don't know so much with OA, but it does sound as though you were in real pain if you resorted to tramadol. Poor you
I do hope you feel better soon
Take care

reply

no, no, I will not take tramadol, but asked a doctor for something strong a while ago, when I was in real pain, from something else. she was reluctant, but gave me a prescription for ten tablets. they are strong,
I am not in pain but it does come and it can be bad, shooting pains down my leg if I do too much, as last time, but I even was then reluctant to take medication.
I will never take them unless forced to, opiates are a last resort, though I stand to be corrected. one thing, it wont stop me walking!!!
thanks for the reply, I think I am a bit wiser.
sorry to hear about your own problems, sympathy is freely given, I hope things get better for you

Toni x

melbland

scattered wrote:

When I'm flaring I run a low grade temperature, my joints swell, radiate heat and are very painful, my morning stiffness increases and can turn into all day stiffness, I feel unbelievably tired - to the point of feeling physically sick - and generally unwell.

In 'proper' terms a flare up is an increase in disease activity which is outside the boundries of 'normal'. Some can last only a few hours but most last at least a few days, sometimes weeks or months.

I think to be fair, this explains it perfectly. I find that I am also like this during a "flare". It was hard for me initially to discover what flares were because I am in a fair amount of pain/have swollen joints all day every day, but during a flare my tiredness increases and the pain does increase. I do get severe "flu like symptoms" during a flare and feel very sick and sore. Luckily it doesn't happen to me that often, although I must say that out of a flare I have very persistent pain :roll:

Mel x

petmad

Hi nickynysmon08, like you I have OA and over the years have suffered pain in individual joints and just plodded on.
This was obviously not the way to treat myself and has resulted in the present situation where I have cronic OA and am waiting cervical surgery. I have not worked for the last 12 months.

I would therefore advise you to listen to your body and do not push things when in pain, which I view as being a flare up.

I hope you knees feel better soon.