I too have bad pain days out of the blue when it seems like my meds have been helping. I think it is the nature of this disease. I read on here that the RA factor sometimes shows up wit Mono and that got me thinking that maybe that's what's going on with the overwhelming fatigue? Worth looking into which I will do and let you know.
Sorry you are hurting so much, at these times you are so grateful for pain meds that work and wonder what you would do without them! My electric blanket is a lifesaver when the heating pad just wont cover enough area of body pain. I hope you have one and can wrap up in it while waiting for the pain meds to kick in. Warm hugs and prayers for you. Feel better soon

Thx, and I am starting to feel a tad better. so frustrating!

understand princess. the inhibitor (plaquenil) really does work, up to a certain point. i know it does because i can consume small amounts of things that i know can cause a flare and no flare comes. but then i'll forget just how bad the pain can be and so i'll cheat too often too much with too much repetitive activity and that will overload the plaquenil's ability and BAM. case in point, raked oak leaves for nearly three straight hours on saturday with my 12yr old, showered and went to the grocery to get some food that i can eat. gave into the smell of day old donuts (loaded with potato starch, processed sugar, preservatives, etc) and bought two dozen for five bucks. normally one donut in a three day period is no problem but i ate 15 from 4pm sat until 10am sunday. by 1pm sunday my left forearm wrist and three fingers swelled and throbbing...took and aleve...by 7pm much worse as the wrist and elbow were frozen so i took some anti-inflamm (yes, i know, nsaids and aleve together are no-no's). pain was so bad finally fell asleep around 2:30am. got up at 5:30a, showered, dressed with one arm, took another anti-inflamm with my vitamins at 7am...by 6pm all was unfrozen but the wrist, took another anti-inflamm at 6pm, then another aleve at 9pm because by then the right hand was swelling like a balloon and hurting like you know what. didn't fall asleep until about 1a. got up at 5:30 this morning, showered dressed with the opposite arm, took an anti-inflamm at 7am with the vitmins. left arm completely okay, right hand is moving with most strength back but traffic finger is still swollen and has pain but subsiding.

telling you princess, you're consuming something that is causing this. i know it does with me, so i've no one or no thing to blame but myself.

good luck

sorry you're having so much pain today. do you normally take all that OTC stuff with your script pain pill? it's not advisable to take naproxen and ibuprofen together.

what is your pain level? if you were gaining some relief from your medication regimen, even increased pain now may not be near what you used to experience. and the fatigue could be from so many things - overdoing it yesterday, not sleeping well for a night or two... i find if i have a busy weekend, monday is ALL THE FATIGUE.

No I don't stephgas. I take a pain pill twice a day, three times on Fri and Sat when my arava is worn off. I don't take anything else.

Now when I was not on pain meds, I took a couple ibuprofen and a couple Tylenol on normal pain days two to three times daily. Haven't needed to do that in a month though.

When I wasn't on a dmard, I was on 20 mg prednisone:
-No flare is about pain of 4 daily, bounces from 3 upwards.
-Flares are, oh, 7-8, even on pred.

Arava alone daily with 10mg prednisone daily:
-No flare pain 4-5
-Flare was a 6

Arava taken only on Saturday and plaquenil with 10 mg prednisone both daily current:
-No flare pain level 2-3 for about 3 weeks or so. Took pain pill once daily, twice on Friday and Saturday because the arava wears off by then.
-No flare week 4, pain increased to 4 daily.
-No flare and the end of week 4, this past Thursday, pain increased to 5ish and has remained 5...feet up to 6.


again, this has been since Thursday that things are increasingly getting worse. I don't think it was the weekend or anything like that.
Also, I take arava, 5 pills Saturday only and 2 plaquenil daily. Being on 10mg prednisone I'm shocked I'm hurting as much as I am.

And reading that I realized something. Prednisone 20mg didn't prevent flares, but it kept my pain level down more than arava once weekly, plaquenil daily and 10 mg pred daily combined! I just feel like I'm going downhill and it's frustrating. Thx for the advice all.

Part of my problem is probably arava was switched from daily, to 5 pills once weekly because of bad side effects I had. I don't think the dose is enough to therapeutically help.

Yep princess, think you hit the head on the nail. Prednisone is the wonder drug we all love and hate.

But I agree with nightshades. I can go weeks without a single symptom. Then I'll get weak and give into one of the foods the allergist identified as allergens for me. I can eat strawberries and watch bright red big lumps literally rise up on my finger joints within an hour! Granted those look terrible but don't hurt. However, if I eat some Cheddar cheese I'm in a swollen, can't-us-the-limb, severe flare that lasts 2-4 days. Guess I'm lucky that I get RA flare instead of anaphylaxis.

Flare foods are a common occurrence. Each of us has different ones. Keep a food & symptom diary and look for patterns.

I'm on Arava too but I take one 20 mg pill every day. I've never heard of anyone taking several pills once a week. I'm curious about that. Sorry your hurting so much. Hope you feel better very soon.

One word, diarrhea :0

Yeah. Diarrhea. 4-5 diarrhea's 4-5 days a week.

Too much for rheumy's comfort so I was switched to 5 pills OR 200mg once a week; instead of 1 pill/20mg daily.

Correction, 100 mg on Saturday's!
Doh!
What's my problem?!
Sorry to confuse.
Yes, yes I have horrific diarrhea on arava and take 5 pills Saturday's instead of daily to cut out the bathroom trips. 100mg ONCE daily.


SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION!!!!!!

i feel silly :(