Research And New Developments
We have recently funded research into palindromic rheumatism, which has given new insights into what goes on in the body during an attack or flare and the experiences of people with the condition.
This research used the latest ultrasound and MRI techniques to show that the structures around the outside of the joints are major targets in flares of palindromic rheumatism, and can be affected more than the joint itself. This pattern of inflammation isnt usually seen in rheumatoid arthritis and might allow doctors to better identify people with palindromic rheumatism.
Its hoped that a better understanding of the condition will improve ways of managing it and help in developing new treatments.
What Causes Arthritis Flare Ups
There is no one answer to this question because there are many different types of arthritis, and each type can have different triggers. Some possible triggers for arthritis flare-ups include:
What is the weather and arthritis index?
The weather and arthritis index is a tool that can help you predict when arthritis flare-ups may occur. The index uses a combination of barometric pressure, temperature, and humidity to generate a forecast for the next two days.
Other factors include:
How Does A Rheumatoid Arthritis Flare Up Feel
RA flare ups can cause varied symptoms, and not every person experiences the same ones. However, Dr. Mukai says many of her patients describe their flare up symptoms in a similar way. Most patients describe flare ups as a sudden increase in pain, stiffness, and swelling of the joints of the body, she notes.
Other common RA flare up symptoms include limited joint mobility along with severe fatigue and symptoms that mimic the flu. Note that your symptoms frequency and severity may vary. Because there is no standard list of RA flare up symptoms, physicians may find it difficult to design standard treatment options.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a complex condition that can affect many joints. Since RA is inflammation of a joints synovial membrane, any joints with such a membrane are fair game, including the facet joints in the spine.
RA flare ups can affect any synovial joint, including the facet joints in your spine.
Dr. Mukai explains that although other joints are more commonly affected, the spine is not immune to RA flare ups. The most common place in the spine affected by RA is the upper neck near the base of the skull. The C1-2 joint at the top of the neck can become inflamed and in severe cases can become unstable or form a pannus that sticks out the back of the spine and can start compressing the spinal cord or even the brain.
Dr. Mukais many patient interactions have helped her to identify several potential RA flare up triggers. She counts:
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Employ Some Life Hacks
Crow also advises taking shortcuts that can make living with PsA flares easier. These life hacks can help minimize fatigue or joint pain, she says. If your joints hurt, you can change the stuff you are using in your daily life for example, if your hands hurt, you can use a wide-grip fork while eating. You can also change how you interact with stuff, such as choosing to have grocery delivery rather than exerting the energy required to go to the store and bag all the items yourself.
Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares
Get more information about what flares of RA symptoms have shown researchers and how it could help you better communicate with your doctor and manage your condition.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of ups and downs. One day, your joints feel pretty good. The next, swelling and pain ratchet up and you can barely get out of bed. These symptom episodes called flares can be unpredictable and debilitating. Because symptoms differ from person to person, doctors have had trouble agreeing on a standard definition to guide them in treating flares. New RA research hopes to develop tools to help doctors and patients bridge these gaps in understanding.
Understanding Flares Through Research
For the last decade, Clifton O. Bingham III, MD, has been working to make life easier for RA patients who experience flares, and the doctors who treat them. Hes led an international initiative from a group called OMERACT that aims to better understand and identify RA flares.RA patients from around the world were studied through focus groups, interviews and surveys to understand from the patients perspective what flare meant to them and what was involved when they experienced a flare. The concepts that came from this were that flares were a common part of the RA experience, even when the condition was otherwise well controlled, says Bingham, who is director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center and director of research for its Division of Rheumatology.
Flare Types and Triggers
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Inflammatory Arthritis Versus Osteoarthritis
Knowing the type of arthritis, you have is the key to recognizing and managing a flare up. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It is caused by wear and tear of the cartilage linings of your joints. Since wear and tear takes time, this type occurs mostly in older people. It may be more common in a joint that you injured at some time. It causes pain, stiffness, and swelling, but not inflammation.
Inflammatory arthritis may be caused by a disorder of your immune system. Your immune system is your bodys defense system against foreign invaders like germs. If you have an immune system disease called an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks normal body tissues, including your joints. The symptom of the attack is inflammation of tissue in around your joints.
Autoimmune inflammatory arthritis affects many joints all over your body at the same time. This is also called inflammatory polyarthritis. This type of arthritis is a long-term disease that is often diagnosed in young adults. Both rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis are common types. Inflammation adds symptoms of redness and a feeling of warmth to affected joints along with pain and swelling.
Monitoring And Discussing Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain
Pain is pretty subjective and variable, says Dr. Schulman. How people perceive and tolerate pain may differ a lot from person to person.
Some patients with little joint tenderness may experience a lot of pain, and some people with really bad inflammatory arthritis dont experience any pain, she notes.
This is why its important to monitor your pain and be open with your rheumatologist about the level of your pain, your personal threshold for pain, and whether the pain seems new or different from your past RA pain. Pain is very tricky for everyone involved, says Dr. Domingues. There is no lab test for pain, so we really need to have a good honest doctor-patient relationship to gauge pain.
Tracking your RA pain can help you better understand your condition. Join ArthritisPower, a patient-centered research registry, to learn more about tracking your RA. .
Having an open dialogue with your doctor can help them identify the causes of your pain whether RA inflammation or a co-occurring condition is the likely culprit and come up with a treatment plan. Treatment is very different for fibromyalgia than for rheumatoid arthritis than for osteoarthritis, notes Dr. Domingues.
What specifically does your rheumatologist want to know about your pain?
Keeping a pain diary can help you clearly communicate the details of your pain to your rheumatologist. Here are some questions to consider when monitoring your pain prior to your next visit whether in-person or telehealth:
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Working With Your Doctor
You may not need to see your doctor every time you have a flare-up.
However, if pain and other symptoms last beyond a few days, you may want to make an appointment. Your doctor can investigate any symptoms that seem to be progressing, such as a reduction in flexibility.
Tracking flares through a journal or app can help you and your doctor to monitor the progression of your OA. The information you collect can help inform the decisions you make about treatment.
Your doctor may recommend imaging tests, such as an X-ray or MRI. These can help identify changes that might indicate whether youre experiencing a flare-up, long-term damage, or both.
If the results suggest new changes, your doctor will help you adjust your treatment plan to take these into account.
In time, flare-ups may become more frequent and symptoms can start to affect your mobility and quality of life. At this point, you may wish to consider joint replacement surgery.
Surgery is usually the last option for treating OA, but many people find it resolves recurring flare-ups and decreases the pain.
for OA and an OA flare-up usually involves a combination of over-the-counter or prescription medications and home remedies. Talk to your doctor about the options below.
Follow Your Doctors Advice
Arthritis flare ups are inevitable, so you need to prepare yourself before they hit you. Always consult your doctor in advance, and make sure you follow the above tips to eventually get rid of the pain.
Hopefully, this article helped you to understand arthritis, its causes, and symptoms and more importantly, you learned how to prevent, treat, and potentially cure arthritis flare ups.
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How To Treat An Arthritis Flare
Sometimes arthritis flare-ups cannot be prevented. At this point, all you can do is get through it the best you can. There are some things you can do that may help provide you some relief.
Make a Plan
You should try to have a plan in place for when you are experiencing arthritis flare-ups.
If you have unavoidable activities that cannot be canceled when your arthritis acts up, let the key people involved know what is happening that way, accommodations can be made.
Apply Heat or Cold
You can choose to use a hot or cold compact or a hot/cold cream, whichever better fits your needs. If you are using a heating pad or an ice pack, youll want to apply it directly to the painful area for 15-20 minute intervals throughout the day. For the hot/cold cream, youll need to follow the product instructions and be sure not to overuse the topical treatment.
Rest
When youre already in pain, its essential to get enough rest. You dont want to put more pressure on your inflamed joints.
You may feel like you are getting behind, but your body needs the time to rest to not prolong the pain. Dont push yourself during a flare.
Low-Impact Movement
While you must get plenty of rest during a flare, you have to be careful of being too still.
Its crucial to get in some low-impact movement like going for a short walk or stretching. There are also hand exercises you can do to keep the joints from becoming stiff.
Consult Your Doctor
What About Managing A Psoriasis Flare
Controlling psoriasis is key to managing psoriatic arthritis flare-ups. While psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis are two separate conditions, 85 percent of people with psoriatic arthritis have psoriasis before developing the joint disease, according to the NFP. The severity of one disease does not dictate the severity of the other, so your treatment should be individualized.
Some patients have severe psoriasis and mild arthritis, and the treatments are guided by the skin problem, Fields says. Some patients have severe arthritis and not such severe skin problems, in that case, the arthritis will determine the therapy.
Here are some ways to address psoriasis symptoms during a flare-up:
Additional reporting by Brian P. Dunleavy
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Follow Your Healthcare Providers Advice
Because arthritis flares are somewhat inevitable, you should know what your healthcare provider wants you to do when a flare occurs. Have a conversation with your healthcare provider ahead of time. Flares are typically inconvenient, meaning they can occur during the night or on the weekend when your healthcare provider is unavailable.
Know the maximum limits of your pain medication. Discuss whether you should always have a backup on hand or ready to be refilled. Know what your healthcare provider wants you to do.
What Are The Potential Health Benefits Of Avocado
Avocados offer a variety of nutritional benefits that can help improve gout symptoms, as well as benefiting your overall health. They are a low carb food containing plenty of nutrients, including potassium, fiber, and monounsaturated fats.
High levels of dietary fiber and monounsaturated fat promote cardiovascular health by improving your cholesterol levels. They do this by increasing HDL cholesterol levels while reducing LDL cholesterol levels. Potassium further supports heart health by regulating blood pressure.
Avocados are also high in a carotenoid called lutein, which supports eye health and mental function.
Most importantly for those with gout, avocados are rich in antioxidants. They also contain vitamin E, which plays a role in anti-inflammatory processes. These properties mean that the fruit can help manage gout.
Most of the fat content in avocados is oleic acid, which is a monounsaturated fatty acid, or good fat. They are still high in fat, though, so they are a high calorie food.
Since maintaining a moderate weight is part of managing gout, you should eat avocados and other calorie-dense foods in moderation.
That said, eating adequate amounts of dietary fats promotes satiety and can help you feel fuller for longer, which may reduce snacking. Dietary fat also keeps blood sugar levels stable by slowing down carbohydrate digestion.
Examples of high purine foods include:
Examples of low purine foods include:
Here are a few simple things that can help:
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How Psoriatic Arthritis Flares Are Diagnosed
Because PsA flares dont have a set definition, the diagnosis is made in large part through communication with your doctor. The first thing we do is we look at the history: whats been happening before the flare, Dr. Husni says. We want to know what the triggers are for your disease and we want patients to see the connection.
A skin flare is a bit easier to identify, and a diagnosis would be made with a rheumatologist and dermatologist. We work very closely with the dermatologist its important that they are involved in the treatment decision, Dr. Husni says.
PsA flare-ups can be so hard to pin down that both professionals we talked to suggested keeping a brief diary of your symptoms to help your doctor diagnose when they are happening, and why.
I recommend that people keep a symptom diary over time so that they can keep track of the conditions that might have preceded their flares in their lifetime, so that they can respond more proactively in the future, Crow says. Unfortunately often its most clear in retrospect. You can use our ArthritisPower app to track your symptoms and disease activity and share your results with your doctor.
How Long Does An Arthritis Flare Last
The length and severity of an arthritis flare is unpredictable and differs from person to person. Different people may also have different triggers for their flares. The best advice is to listen to your body and become aware of your flare triggers. It may help to keep a flare diary and work with your doctor to developing a flare management plan. Avoid treating a flare a supplement, unless you talk to your doctor first. If you are having frequent flares or a severe flare that is not responding to your usual home care, call your doctor. Sometime a flare needs medical treatment to prevent permanent joint damage.
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How An Ra Flare Ends
Just as the onset of the flare was marked by a gradual worsening of symptoms, the end of the flare will be marked by a gradual lessening of the severity of symptoms. Intense, constant pain will give way to less intense pain, a decrease in joint swelling, and a gradual return of movement. Additionally, as symptoms become less intense, the ability to sleep soundly returns.2
Use Your Energy More Efficiently
During an RA flare, dont waste energy on activities that arent necessary or helping you get well. For example, sit down while brushing your teeth or doing your hair. If your finger joints hurt, wear clothing thats easy to get on and off. Ask family members and friends for help with specific chores and errands.
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How Long Does An Ra Flare Last And What Are My Treatment Options
An RA flare may last for weeks or months, depending, in part, on how quickly you get treatment to address the underlying inflammation. If you experience a flare, you should talk to your doctor immediately and start a course of treatment to reduce inflammation. Typically corticosteroid therapy is used to reduce the inflammation associated with a flare. It is important to address the inflammation that occurs during a flare to limit damage to joints, bones, and cartilage.