It varies...my last flare was a month long. It was horrible. But I've had them last a week. Hoping now that I'm back on meds, the flares will keep to a minimum.

it varies with what you do to alleviate or initiate the symptoms or simply with the present tilt of the earth or phase of the moon or barometer or level of stress, or,,, or,,,or. Not trying to be a smarty because I wish I knew. My first when diagnosed was 6 - 7 weeks that was so bad couldn't move either shoulder, wrist, elbow. Changed diet radically (see screen name) and tada all symptoms disappeared. Just plain gone. Went along great for a year, if I cheated diet then something would begin to stiffen and back to diet hard and tada, okay. Then in April was rear-ended sitting at a light by a guy doing 40mph and slammed/pinned me to the SUV in front of me. Flares started again, this time in fingers, toes, knees. Not as bad as the first one but this time I've been on Plaq as an inhibitor and before hadn't even started. Flare still on going and I'm on the diet and have been. Not as painful mind you (except when walking or standing) but this time the nodules have come in finger/toe joints with the disfiguring. So, for you, I hope they are short and never return.

Funny, Nonightshades, the present tilt of the earth, lol. Most times it does feel that way though. I've had a flare that lasted over 4 months and it's easing up now. Oceans11, by the looks of your avatar you could dig your toes in the sand? I envy you that :)

Oceans11 see you have an Rx for prednisone, I use that when I have a flare, not pain meds. I feel like if you treat pain, with meds, you are just postponing the treatment, and most times its more RA meds.
I have not had a flare in 2 years now, used to be every 2-4 months, going gluten free, and eating more organic helped, I believe. Now I am off everything, and taking LDN and a small dose of prednisone when I need it. Haven't needed more than 5mg a day in a week or so.
Look at your lifestyle and see what you can change, diet, exercise, stress, these things do effect random flares. That and the tilt of the earth...

@nonightshades. You know what's funny I just found out what a darn nightshade was about a week ago while researching foods you shouldn't have if suffering from RA! LOL I've been eating "clean" the past 6mos & hitting the gym. Lost 20lbs. I was doing fine without the diet & exercise change but I wanted to be at an optimum level.

3 major things I changed without even considering whether it would affect my RA. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't? I took a very strong probiotic, strong as in, it had a very high dosage of bacteria & OMG I immediately went through flu like symptoms & then actually caught the flu. Weird?? Maybe both happening were just coincidence don't know. Prior to this I started drinking coffee, never really had the taste for coffee because I don't like hot drinks. But iced coffee during the Socal summers, that was nice, so I got a little addicted to them & then read that certain RA sufferers have hypersensitive to coffee, not necessarily the caffeine but COFFEE itself.

Anyway, sorry about going off on a tangent folks. I asked about the flare ups because I believe I just had my first one & I wanted to find out typically how long they lasted!

@metachic - that was 2013 10 year anniversary trip. We got married in Maui & we revisit every 5 years. That was in Kapalua Bay. I love it there!!

@davidrn - Well I had mentioned above I started eating clean. I'll probably cut out all night shades as well now to see how that helps. Funny as I felt the worst my one cheat day I had 2 helpings of McDonalds french fries (Ohhh how I love McDonalds fries)!! Up until this flare up I was only on 5mg of MTX, stopped taking Plaquenil & I hadn't taken Prednisone in over a year. Even y Rheumy said that he's surprised that I'm feeling any affect from 5mg of MTX.

So in the end maybe it's not all that much of a mystery. Maybe I just the "too low" mark of my medication & need to increase it up just a tad.

Oh well, thanks for the input everyone!! Happy New Year!!

Interesting question. How do you know the difference between a long lasting flare & the treatment no longer working?
Other then time that is.
Perhaps it's the brain surrounded by fog but I honestly cannot recall.
Been off treatment shy of a year.
I do know I'm usually warned by exhaustion & this darn fog starting or increasing.
That is a red flag for me.
Stress seems to open a door for problems also.
Thus far diet does not seem to make a difference with me.
I'm curios to see how others respond.
Sammy

Ocean you said "Funny as I felt the worst my one cheat day I had 2 helpings of McDonalds french fries "
My first thought is that the issue there could be the oil, and not the fries. In addition to going gluten free, I have increased my Omega 3 levels significantly with 3+ servings of seafood a week. The other part of increasing Omega 3's is decreasing Omega 6's, those are PUFA's (poly unsaturated Fats) I do not eat anything cooked in processed veg oils, I use Olive, Coconut and Butter (grass fed). Last year my ratio was 6 to1 (O6 to O3) Paleo suggestions are that the ratio was closer to 1-1 to 2-1, looking forward to testing in 2015 to see how my diet changes have helped.

pred is a powerful drug masker.

depot