Hi beauti,
Well.. I have only flared once (onset of lupus 7 months ago).. my symptoms were a palm (excema looking rash), sun sensitivity(rashes from sun breakout), feverish / chills, hair loss, flu-like feeling, knees feeling ablaze and heavy, wrist pain and thumb pain. Great thread you started ;p

Hi,
I have flared many times in 10 years and for me it starts off the same. A flu like feeling that doesnt go away and fevers. Then the symptoms increase if my meds are not tweaked. Brain fog is one of my most irritating symptoms and nothing has taken it away. Remeber though that your symptoms from a flare can change. This time I had extreme muscle weakness, burning in my legs, and balance issues along with the other common symptoms. If you start to feel bad, please call the rheumy.The quicker it gets controlled, the faster you will feel better and the damadge will be less on your body. Hope this helps.
xoxo

Usually starts with fever fatigue and pain follows quickly and the brain fog ugh1

Hi beauti - I totally agree with everyone about the memory fog!!! I can't remember a thing! I'm a preschool teacher and I'm always counting the children to make sure I have everyone!!!!!

My flares start out with muscle aches and my skin feels like it is on fire. Hope you are feeling good.

Corie

Great post.
My latest flare began last Thursday. Started with extreme exhaustion then came the stabbing pains all over, upper gi pain, headaches, dizziness/lightheadedness and bad muscle weakness in my legs. I'm a mess. I hope it'll ease up soon. Take care all!

Thanks, I'm glad you guys like it. I'm hoping to keep this thread going. I really think it's helpful to know what everyone goes through. For me, because I feel like my body is so kooky, sometimes I'm confused between what's lupus and what's just random regular stuff and it seems like everything is lupus! Please keep sharing!

My flares are "somewhat" less intense now that I am on Lyrica and Plaquenil, but still terrible. So, mine usually start, like yesterday, feeling crummy, nauseaus and extra pain, but I'm still able to function. But then it will keep building. My feet and lets start feeling the burning numbness pain and then I feel like it is all over and will consume my entire body. Yesterday I tried to explain (to myself) and my husband what it felt like. I came up with this. Remember the game PacMan? It feels like a bunch of those little munching guys are attacking me everywhere from the inside of my body. Weird description, I know, but when I'm flaring especially, that's kinda how it feels.

dadsgirl1 - that's actually a really good explanation. It's hard to explain because there are sooooo many different sensations that our bodies feel.

My flares always start with a sore throat and joint and muscle soreness, then low grade fever. I feel like I have a flu, with nausea, extreme fatigue, everything hurts, sometimes I get pain when breathing deeply. Headaches, I lose my appetite. I cannot get out of bed without lots of meds. Muscle weakness, problems walking from the pain and weakness. I am flaring now so I keep trying to feel everything so I can write it down. Of course the sun makes me physically ill, extremely tired, get rashes and lesions, mouth ulcers.

i get them all. LOL!! Good question beauti.

BUMP!! Let's try to keep this going!

When I flare, my everyday symptoms (joint pain, fatigue, mouth ulcers, rashes) just get worse and I feel flu-like. Then sometimes I get low grade fevers, night sweats, hair loss, and other pain and symptoms that I don't normally have.

Sometimes I wish I would lose my appetite, lol, but I rarely ever do.

I recently had a flare with a fever of 100-100.9 degrees. That was the first time I've had a flare with a fever.

I have brain fog and exhaustion all the time. When I "flare", mine usually have symptoms like joint pain, muscle pain and soreness and much worse fatigue than usual. Mostly these days my joint pain is in my feet and hands.

I know I am flareing when i cant think, my pain level goes up i'm not hungry and all i want to do is sleep 18+ hours a day. also i have epilepsy and and for the part seizures are controled exceptdurring flairs, doc's cant figure it out.

My flares usually come from someone commenting on my face,I go into the rest room and think is this me.I have felt like sitting on the toilet and not coming out. ouch!
All my life i have had to try my best to cover face scars, I lost the left side of my face, but it is filled up with my bum fat ( have plenty of extra if anyone wants some or all). it has been in my face for over 30years. i have read everyones symptoms and I get them all most of the time. Someone has turned the sun down, so that has been a help.Thinking of you and sending love