Wow,

I never got that complicated with it. A bad couple of days? A flare? I guess I lump thngs together. I had never heard you needed to be in remission to have a flare. I understood it more to simply be a deviation from whatever your personal norm of the time was/is.

I guess I lump together, too. I know what my usual level of pain, fatique, anxiety, etc. are. If it suddenly gets much worse and lasts more than a day or two, I consider it a flare. If it lasts longer than 1-2 days, it usually lasts at least a week, so I definely consider that to be a flare. I've never been at a point where I considered myself in remission, if I have a few hours that are relatively low-pain, it's a blessing. I've never had one whole day like that since I became ill. So if you have to be in remission in order to have a flare, guess I've never had a flare. So what are the REALLY bad times?

I had one remission which lasted 6 days in August 2006...when the FM returned it returned with a vengence !
but to me a flare is when my symptoms either Hit me all at once or each of them are more intensified...like I feel I have been in a flare almost constant since August of this year...it was Hot when they frist started hitting me hard..so it was not due to cold weather...I guess I am a lumper as well...since it is so rare people have remissions...

A flare to me is pain that is not controlled by normal meds. Along with the flare is cognative disruption, more than a fog.

I dont seem to have flares I just have chronic pain.Im always in pain I get no relief I mean my meds give me relief but the pain is still there everyday .I have just learned to live with it!!!!!!So I quess dont know the difference..

In my case, flares consist of feeling zoned out and just not right since most of my problems are related to cognitive dysfunction more than pain.

I also find that when I'm in a flare, time stops so I can be miserable longer.

Maybe it's just a difference frame of reference. I was on another site earlier in the year and was trying to describe something going on. I was using the term "flare up" meaning when my knee literally flared up, got too painful to walk, swelled, etc.

I was quickly told that I had to stop calling it a flare because a fibro flare was something else and it involved a state of remission then return to symptoms. That's where the idea of remission first came from.

Anyway, I was never explained as to how long a "flare" lasted, but I got the idea that if it was short-lived (matter of days) then it wasn't a true fibro flare.

Mine seem to come and go with extreme weather chnages and I didn't know if that was considered a true flare or maybe just a couple of painful days.

Many thanks for the input so far. Keep 'em coming if you got 'em.

I'M STILL IN ONE NOW, BUT I ALWAYS HEARD THAT THEY ARE REALTED TO STRESS AND CLIMATE CHANGE. I KNOW MINE IS STRESS RIGHT NOW AND AM PRAYING THAT WHEN THE STRESS LEAVES SO DOES THE FLARE. I'M NOT SURE IF I'M RIGHT OR EVEN CLOSE??? LOVE....HELEN

I think that it's also relative, just like our pain.

My definition of flares "for me" is my level of pain increases, or is different for a time period before returning to pre-flare status.

I have been in a flare the last three weeks. I keep waking up with certain muscles feeling like someone was hitting me in the middle of the night. Or like I got up and excercised in the middle of the night without knowing it, LOL! I mean, I know for most of you, that's normal, but it's not for me. It's a new thing. So, that's how I defined it at a flare. Different pain than usual. If it's just the regular stuff, raw skin, fever, achey, then I am just basically experiencing my regular pain, but this is new.

Just my .02.

Well, if you go by that forums' definition of a flare, I was in one for fifteen years easily.

If your knee is swelling, I don't think that's related to your fibro, or at least I don't have any sort of swelling or anything. My fibro is inherited and wasn't the result of an accident the way yours was.

Either way, a flare is what you define it to be IMHO.

I have had FM since I was a teenager (30 years) and never heard the words flare or remission in relation to FM. I have never been in remission - I have always had some level of FM going on. A flare for me would be when my pain levels and particular areas of my body feel worse than they usually do. Using that definition, the flares last anywhere from a few days to years, LOL.

Last year I cooked Christmas dinner for 20 people, did most everything by myself. Hubby and daughter cleaned the house, so all I had to do was prepare food and keep kitchen clean. Yeah right "all I had to do" lol. The day after Christmas my body was inflammed and everything hurt. I felt like I had been to a gym and had used every machine there, twice! I was so sore! it lasted for a week - so I guess that was a flare, at least for me.

I hope this helps in some way and that you feel well...hugs jilly

I FEEL LIKE SOMEONE CAME IN IN THE NIGHT AND BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF ME EVERYDAY, IT'S SO BAD THAT I CANNOT SIT UP BY MYSELF IN THE MORNS, JOHN HAS TO COME IN AND HELP ME TO GET UP. I HAVEN'T AHD FIBRO AS LONG AS ALOT OF YOU HAVE, SO ALL THIS IS NEW TO ME. I DO THANK YOU FOR THE HELP....HELEN

I cannot remember when I haven't had pain with this. and fatigue.When it gets really bad and another new strang thing comes up to me that is a flare. And you know it! marilyn