My strange arthritic 'flare-ups'

It's probably just a getting older thing. Does ibuprofen help? Or even paracetamol. I'm convinced paracetamol helps with my mood.

Yep something similar happens to me. There's no rhyme or reason for it. Winter, summer, spring autum somtimes I'll have a flair up that'll last a few weeks then I can go just weeks before another or it'll be 6+ months. I'm so exhausted I have to wait to go to the doctors then by the time I get an appointment with the nurse for blood tests it's passed so I don't go. The mild warm ache in my fingers, knees, knuckles and hips is there all the time but managable but like you worse in the morning. Getting old is shitty horrible. All my female relatives have it. We just think we're a wingy whiney family. for you. Hope you feel better soon.

I was prescribed ibuprofen for my shoulder/neck and knees. I gave up taking it as it had no effect at all.
I don't get the 'flare ups' you describe mine are painful all the time.

DH is an ex rugby player and injured his knee in a motor bike accident. His knees always bother him more in the cold and damp.

I have these occasionally but they're very mild mostly, but not always.. I'm beginning to think they are linked to something(s) in my diet. You mention your IBS flares up too.

I do have flares every 2/3mths, I get pain in all my major joints/spine instead of just my hips and hands, I don't seem to get tiredness just more stiffness, my range of movement is reduced and more pain. I already take the highest dose of Naproxen daily and my GP prescribed Paracetamol as the only other pain relief she can give me other than an opiate , and I really don't want to go there.
Ask your GP about anti-inflammatories, I know I wouldn't function as well as I do without them, I've tried and within 36hrs I can feel the affects .

Try cutting out things one at a time and see if there is any improvement, it takes time but you never know you might just hit on the trigger.

Arthritis is just so debilitating and yet a lot of people just see it as a bit like 'creaky joints', if only they knew.

It's a symptom Mishap.

I take Tramadol and Meloxicam and I have found great relief from that combination.

Spasms are the worst thing ouch!

I have them sometimes Merlot and they seem to precede a cold or other respiratory tract infection. Possibly part of the inflammatory response to a virus?

Thanks everyone. Nice to know I'm not the only one. My niece (a nurse) suggested kidney disease but I don't have a high temperature or feel ill (other than the pain) and it clears up after a few days. I take paracetamol every day and ibuprofen short term or I get stomach upsets.

So much fun getting old!!

I have had a major flare up in my left hip and knee since Christmas. I know I have put on weight and wonder if that has "tipped me over". I have restarted the Naproxen and feel the difference already.

The 'flare-ups' that you describe are quite common with OA according to the consultant that I attended. They are a total pain and as you say leave you feeling exhausted. The only advice that I can offer is to take things really easy when you feel bad and if you can gently exercise the joints so that they do not stiffen up.

I attended a self management course last year which was organised by Arthritis Care here in Northern Ireland and it was really useful. I do not know if they have similar courses in your area but it might be useful to contact them.

I'm just glad it happened over the last few days and not next week which is half-term when our youngest DGCs will be staying. We don't see them very often and i'm so looking forward to it.

I will need lots of energy.

My flare ups, like janea's, seem to come with viral infections like colds. I'll have a couple of days of more intense pain and discomfort and then realise I've got a cold. The colds are usually mild, thank goodness. Perhaps our immune systems go a bit bonkers fighting off the virus and affect more than they really need. Hope you feel better, merlot.

Has your GP done any blood tests to see if your inflammation levels are up, merlogran. I have inflammatory and osteo arthritis. My GP told me anything on top of that, e.g. a cold/virus would knock me out. He wasn't wrong. I'm now on disease mods for the rheumatoid and have my life back. I still get the odd flare up but like I've got better at managing it. Getting over tired, or not resting when I've a virus or similar tips me over the edge!

I have taken medication for pain for years finding one that works for me five years ago. I have even managed to reduce the drug by half as my joints have become less flexible. However if unwell or stressed the pain is back and due to the tablet I am on there is little I can take. So I have to try and anticipate stressors and work with it.

I had dreadful flare ups with my knee (replaced in April last year) which became more and more frequent, unitlI was on prescription anti inflammatories and pain killers. I blamed the weather, atmospheric pressure, diet - you name it. I do sympathise!

Not so many flare ups with the hip (replaced 5 weeks ago) just constant, worsening, debilitating pain. I hadn't realised how bad until it stopped!

I have polymyalgia rheumatica which is an auto-immune condition, causing inflammation of large muscle groups. When it really hit me, I had difficulty getting out of bed, reaching the light switch (I had to head butt it) and just about everything else. The remedy is prednisolone, a steroid, in gradually reducing doses. I have had a few flares, on the way down and am currently back up to 10mg as my inflammatory markers were not responding as expected. Steroids aren't a cure but control the inflammation which enables the patient to get on with life. One day, the disease should 'burn itself out'. After almost four years, I still live in hope.
Sorry,*merlot*, I know I have digressed from your OP, but what I am getting round to suggesting is that perhaps you should ask your GP for a blood test in case there is an underlying inflammatory cause for your flares.

My brother has PMR, anno so I suppose it's something I should bear in mind. Somebody else also suggested fibromyalgia which I know nothing about so I googled it and I tick every box!!

I'll have to wait until it happens again because this morning, apart from the usual pain in my left knee, I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed!!

Like Soutra I think a bit of added weight can't be helping painful joints but that's the winter for you

Oh for some better weather

Cut out all dairy produce; beer; mushrooms; bread; sugar; white wine; fruit; coffee; vinegar. Eat massive amounts of garlic or take high quality garlic capsules; make sure your bowel is moving every day - drink lots of sparkly mineral water and eat lots of vegetables and salads. Think about getting some colonic irrigation.

This worked for me twenty years ago when the attacks almost had me wheelchair bound. Now I'm still playing tennis and walking miles every week.

Colonic irrigation??? I won't be showing this to DH or he'll have me plugged in to the pressure washer.

Nice to know I can still have a

I'm getting them in my ankles. Just starting to recover from the one that started just before xmas. At one point I had to use a wheelchair as I couldn't weight bear at all.

Oh Lord. We're all falling apart

Does anyone take any supplements?

I take a multivitamin and a magnesium supplement per day. One for general well being and extra iron for harsh periods (peri-menopause), and for tiredness too and magnesium for cramp but mainly for irregular heartbeat and palpitations. I have put this past my cardiologist and he says it is fine.

I've read up on quite a bit and seen my GP about this but the blood test that they do does not give accurate readings for magnesium deficiency. After taking my son at age 5 weeks to a theme park and walking around all day, the day after I felt like someone was trying to strangle me. My throat was really tight. I have suffered with this on and off for 18 years nearly now and the only thing which will relieve the feeling is magnesium. I also have supra ventricular tachycardia so my heart can go out of sinus rhythm and go at over 250 beats a minute. This can happen anytime. I do have odd beats and palpitations and when I take the magnesium it all goes away and I feel nothing, my pulse being normal.

On looking on sites I found that magnesium deficiency can also cause arthritis pain. Please take a look but check with a doctor first before taking any. We are told about what not to eat but not told about what we should be taking on board, especially as our bodies age. I am a believer like a lot of you I am sure of finding out the cause and treating it, not just treating the symptoms, which is what doctors seem to want to do these days.

For anyone with IBS who suffers with constipation the magnesium could be the answer as too much magnesium causes diarrhea but with playing around a little with the dose then the taker can have a bowel movement and not have the pain but not also have the diarrhea. Have a read, it's fascinating. But please check with a GP first.

I wish you all well. Now if anyone knows how to help breathlessness I would be fighting fit, well, fitter. (With three heart conditions I'll never be fighting fit as waiting for surgery, but hey ho. ).

I would like to add that I do take heart tablets daily too and not just my magnesium for the irregular heartbeat. I don't think my cardiologist think it does any good but they do use it after some heart surgery.

I've found out that it is premature ventricular contractions that I have, not really palpitations. It is this which is helped by the magnesium.