I noticed from your profile you had also been diagnosed with Valley Fever... I would guess if it isn't completely resolved that may be the source of your joint pain. I had pretty severe muscle pains post PE, but never joint pain. If I remember correctly from my medical mycology class joint pain and inflammation can be a symptom of persistant valley fever. I would definately check with your doc. It could be that with all your body went through with your PEs, your immune system is having more trouble fighting the funal infection. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so these are just my thoughts. Good luck!

That makes sense.
Unfortunately the Valley Fever is also a year long treatment for me too.Thanks for responding!

@LN1 - I don't have Valley Fever, but I do have RA which is, of course, also a mashup of inflammation and joint pain. I have no idea why, but after my PE I started a massive flare that was virtually non-stop while I was taking warfarin. For me, the symptoms improved once I stopped taking blood thinners.

One reason I had trouble controlling flares is that I was taken off of virtually all of my meds (prednisone, biologic and antibiotic) while on the warfarin. It was difficult to keep my INR at the right level and have me on all that other stuff at the same time. It seems like it will be hard for you to keep going without prednisone or some other intervention until November. Do you see a rheumatologist for the Valley Fever? I'd try working with them to get some inflammatory and pain relief.

I would just follow up with your doc and make sure you don't have anything else going on, like a vitamin deficiency. I had terrible joint and muscle pain for months after my PE. Finally, my endocrinologist ran a simple vitamin D test and we learned I was majorly deficient. Once I got my vitamin D levels back up, I felt MUCH better. So if you haven't had these tests in a while, I'd look into vitamin D levels, calcium levels, vitamin B12 levels just to rule that out.

I agree with both the ladies on the immune system theory. I have ulcerative colitis which is an autoimmune inflammatory disease. I'd been in remission for years prior to my PE, but about 6 months after my PE I my disease went completely out of control, despite remaining on my medication. I suspect my immune system went a little bonkers after the PE and that triggered a flare up, that and the stress from having such a crazy life threatening event.

If you needed to be on prednisone, typically, you can take prednisone while on warfarin but it can interact so you'd need your INR monitored closely. So if you end up needing to be on it, you can.

Hope you start feeling better soon.

How common is this Valley fever? This is the first I have heard of it. Is it common with PE's?

Here's information on it:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002299/

Thank you ladies!
Valley fever is not associated with PE's.
However I live in Arizona. The cat scan that diagnosed my PE's also showed pulmonary nodules which were later found to be cavities-scar tissue from untreated valley fever.
Treatment is long term Diflucan which hypes up coumadin effectiveness.
I cannot wait to get off these drugs.
Bless you all!