Flare
Posted , 11 users are following.
what does a flare feel like? what can cause it?
0 likes, 3 replies
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Notes on Flare
Michdonn frances80868
Posted
Hi Frances, almost anything can cause a flare, a cold, stress, wrong food, ect. When I have had a flare it is the stiff muscles and when you move against the stiffness it hurts. Each of us have PMR, but it effects us all a little differently. Some of us do too much and hurt ourselves, you have to stay active, but learn to not over do it. Good luck on your journey stay active, positive and try to smile. 🙂
dmart7 frances80868
Posted
People do vary in their response, but a PMR flare usually involves pain in both shoulders. It may also involve both hips and other areas such as hands and wrists. An isolated pain elsewhere is less likely to be a PMR flare, although nothing can be ruled out. A PMR flare usually represents excess inflammation, and since most of us are taking Pred to control inflammation, and trying to reduce the dose gradually, a flare is usually the consequence of insufficient dose. If PMR disease remains undiminished, even the slowest reductions in Pred dose will eventually result in a flare. And there is a tendency to overshoot - the inflammation build-up means that you may need more Pred than you think (in the short term at least) to regain control of the inflammation.
EileenH frances80868
Posted
A flare is a return of the same symptoms you had before pred (occasionally there may be new ones) and can happen for two reason: either you have reduced your daily dose too far and it is now no longer enough to manage the inflammation or the activity of the underlying autoimmune disorder has increased and is again producing more inflammation than it had been before. Anecdotally, it does appear that the activity of the disease does cycle in some way, falling off and allowing a reduction in dose and then rising again in some cases leading to a need for more pred but all the time each peak is a bit lower than the last.
As has been said already - all sorts of stresses can affect the autoimmune activity and for me even weather can make a difference, more than just the muscle aches and pains can flare up.