five months
20mg mtx weekly since dx/enbrel for past three weeks
constant
constant - but i may have linked aspartame to a fast, noticeable increase in swelling/pain. i'm going to test it again - when i feel a bit better ;)

4 months
8 Methotrexate tabs a week was 6, 4 weeks on Prednisone taper off
1 long flare subsided 20 % from onset

9 yrs
MTX
constant
constant

never have a pain free day...I don't seem t o get the swelling except once or twice a year but it can be a hand one day, and then a foot etc..I never know where it will be next.

How long diagnosed RA? 2 years
Inhibitor taking? Celebrex
How many flares per year do you experience? 30+
How many bad flares per year do you experience? 1

4 years
Arava and cimzia
Almost constant
1

16 months
Mtx, Meloxicam, exhibition steroids only for flares
6
3
I figure I am still a newbie
Trish

diagnosed: 3 months ago
medication: MTX / Folic Acid /Prednisone
constant
too new to tell

2 1/2 years
Arava, Orencia
3 or 4
Probably 1

Thanks for starting this post. Hope it keeps going. It has helped this newbie to know all the drug possibilities there are.

yes, do please keep them coming. sorry to preach but the long diatribe of a diet explanation that i just gave to our newest newbie hollywood will work for many of you if you can tolerate the foods that i have used and you'll stick to it. Pain is a wonderful incentive to clean up your diet......warning though, in three to four months you'll be back down to the weight you were when graduating high school.

keep them coming y'all

15 months
actemra
0
n/a

3-4 months

Arava, 3 days so far, waiting for relief AND
Prednisone. 20 mg, tapered to 5, now back on 20:(
(was Methotrexate for 2 1/2 weeks with folic, taken off for headaches)

4 flares in these 3-4 months.
3 bad, currently having one of those 3.

No matter how carefully you word your survey there are problems. Some of us have low level "flares" continously... if by flare you mean pain that prevents some activity and its presence represents awareness of having RA. However my interpretation would be that you might mean that which is an increase above what is normal for the individual. Is that useful for your purposes I wonder.

Also the disease activity varies so I presume all the answers represent the previous year of RA activity. It isnt the same every year.

Also people's perception of pain varies. My three might be your two out ten or vica versa. For me a flare is when I have to stop doing major stuff and/or go to bed. Represents an 8 plus on my out of ten pain schedule. And then the length of time that lasts varies from a day to several weeks!! (although only had three more than a week long since diagnosis seven and a half years ago)

And individual's drug regime will vary somewhat for a variety of reasons. It isnt as if there is a list available to everyone with the same person making the choice of drug. Most NZers will never get a biologic so people here will reach a point where there isnt much redress until we get to the wheelchair scenario when a biologic might be prescribed.

Our substitute is prednisone which it would appear (from my years on this site) is prescribed longer here and more frequently than in USA. Prednisone at the right dose stops a flare. But it isnt the same as being on a proper drug controlled regime. It comes at a high cost in terms of side effects. But then this disease does anyway and all of us have a 50% higher likelihood of dying of heart related disease than the norm.... Sobering thought. (Luckily doesnt mean immediately, just one of those upsetting stats.)

I know this isnt the kind of answer you want but I think pain and the issues of the disease are so diverse you arent going to get the clinical sort of comparison you want even though looking at the replies it might appear you are. I presume however it gives you some sort of base to compare yourself...

Hmm, I'm confused. I thought this was for your own comparison of your health, but then you mention that much of everyone's pain can be helped by diet. There are a lot of threads here on diet, and it has helped some but not many others, including myself after working very closely with a dietician who focuses on autoimmune disorders. If this thread was about diet changes, I think it would have been best to be labeled as such.

5 months
mtx, prednisone-hope to start humira
constant
almost constant