Monday, December 29, 2008 surfkat19 asks

Q: Is this part of the flare? Or the beginning or end of the flare?

Hi everyone. Well, I am new to RA and just now beginning to understand what has been going on with me for the past year. In retrospect, I see some clear patterns, however -- here is my question.

About two months ago, after having a few decent weeks, I had my worst flare yet. Pain that woke me in the middle of the night, pain that wracked me from the hips down to the bottoms of my feet, nodules appearing around both knees and ankles. I am, apparently, seronegative, although I have every symptom that is unique to RA. Have seen an ER doc and family practice doc but cannot see the rheumatologist until the end of January. So some of this is guesswork, too.

In the past week the pain has subsided, but it seems that I ALWAYS feel like I'm "about to come down with" the flu. It seems that I ALWAYS feel this way, whether the pain is intense or mild, always that flu feeling ...gosh, it's hard to describe but I'm thinking you probably already know what I mean without me laboring to write it down ... low-grade fever, burning eyes, aches, low-level pain, and pretty intense fatigue. Is this as good as it gets? Or is this an indicator that a flare is still happening?

Thank you,

Kathy

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Answers (2)

Lene Andersen, Health Guide

1/ 7/09 12:23pm

What you're describing sounds an awful lot like active RA. Although you may not be in a major flare at the moment, the disease is still present and percolating. Which means that you need treatment and luckily, you have an appointment with a rheumatologist fairly soon. Feeling like you do now is very definitely not "as good as it gets". Once you get the proper treatment, which includes a medication that will suppress your RA, your symptoms and pain levels should decrease and you'll get more energy. Unfortunately RA doesn't go away, so you'll likely need to be on some medication or another for the rest of your life, however, it's a small price to pay for preventing damage to joints and to get back to feeling like a normal person. My next post is about things to do for the newly diagnosed and you may find some helpful information in it. Look for it in the next day or two.

Hang in there. It gets better.

Angela53510

5/12/09 12:04pm

You need to start with methotrexate, as fast as possible. I had to go off it for a few weeks because my liver enzymes (ALT) went crazy, and I was so tired I was sleeping by noon (It also turned out the Reactine I was taking for my allergies was a major factor in the liver issue, not the methx). However, it was my biologic, Kineret that really controlled the flares - I had to go off for 2 weeks for surgery, and the flares were major. I have been back on for over 2 weeks, and it is just getting under control. The flares were worse than the major reconstructive surgery. Low grade fever was the first symptom I had over 10 years ago - my doc thought it was lupus (much worse than RA - I have a friend with it). I was sed negative for 2 years - apparently it can show that way for up to 4 years. You need to go to an OLD rheumie with lots of life experience. The numbers mean nothing - symptoms everything.

I hope you have gotten help - if the doc says no, because of your tests, find a different, better doc. You have the right to demand drugs, and a good rheumie will recognize that, because pain causes deformities, fight back hard, and don't let anyone push you around based on blood tests.

Q: Is this part of the flare? Or the beginning or end of the flare?

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