Triggers

Dondonaldo
Dondonaldo Member Posts: 2
edited 12. Apr 2019, 15:56 in Living with arthritis
I have recently discovered one of my personal triggers that start a 'Flare' (it's only taken 33 years), and wonder if anyone else has experienced anything similar. A little over a week ago, feeling ambitious, I attempted to lift a rather large bag of stones from the local garden centre. A rather silly move given I no longer have the muscle mass in my arms and replacement elbows are not designed for such work. Needles to say I failed and experienced pain in both elbows. I resigned myself to a couple of uncomfortable days with pain in my elbows but discovered that, over the following week the discomfort spread into my other joints (shoulders, hips and wrists). I have come to the conclusion that, given that RA is an auto immune disease, that any injury, regardless of how trivial it may be, can trigger a 'Flare'. Am I right or is it pure coincidence? (I have been in remission for a number of years).

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 3,635
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi dondonaldo
    Welcome to the forum sorry you are going through a lot at the moment we understand what you are going through as everyone here has a form of arthritis.we are a friendly forum and everyone will make you feel part of the forum the, the most popular forums are Living with Arthritis and Chit Chat, you will soon get a reply to your questions.
    All the best Christine
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have come to the conclusion that, given that RA is an auto immune disease, that any injury, regardless of how trivial it may be, can trigger a 'Flare'. Am I right or is it pure coincidence? (I have been in remission for a number of years).




    I'd be surprised. It certainly never has done with me. I've had THRs, TKRs, a mastectomy and half my bowel removed. It doesn't get more 'injurious' than that lot but the only one that caused a flare was the bowel op and that was because he wanted me off my DMARDS for what amounted to about three months.

    What certainly causes flares, for most of us, is stress of any kind. I imagine the incident gave you plenty of that. And ongoing stress as other joints joined in. Have you had problems before with your hips? I guess shoulders and wrists would make sense anyway as the impact will have affected them too but......hips?

    When you say you've been in remission, is that with or without DMARDS? It might be time to ring your rheumatology helpline to see if your meds need tweaking.

    What would concern me would be if I'd dislodged the implants or damaged some ligaments around them. Have you tried a physio? They might have some idea. Personally, if I thought it was my RA flaring after all this time, rather than just my OA giving me what for, I'd want a medical opinion on it. How are your recent blood tests?
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello, it's nice to meet you and I am sorry you have had to find us.

    I have psoriatic and osteoarthritis plus fibromyalgia. I find that physical exertion can worsen my OA but as that inflammatory reaction is localised it's easily dealt with by rest, pain relief and maybe the application of a topical anti-inflammatory. I have yet to work out what triggers my PsA into action but it certainly isn't physical exertion, the weather, diet or any of the other things that can aggravate the OA. The PsA inflammation is far more widespread, affecting the whole body, the fatigue that goes with it is severe and it lives by its own rules: I have no say in what it does or when it does it, the meds merely control but even so it can break through despite their suppression.

    On here we may have nominally similar conditions but how we are affected varies from person to person. I have not experienced remission (I.e. disease activity is dormant) and never hope to: the crushing disappointment when it returns is probably not worth the joy of it being absent. You do not mention what meds you have taken / are taking or if you have any other replaced joints but it does seem foolhardy to be swinging round heavy bags of stone, no wonder your fake joints protested. For my PsA I take injected meth and humira, for the OA I take a minimum of four 30/500 cocodamol per day to dull things enough so I can get on. I hope things settle down soon, this must be very miserable if things have generally been behaving. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben