Mini-flares....how common are they? And a pain whine....

[Guest guest]

Since I began having problems, I have noticed that I have what I

would consider " mini-flares " ...I will begin to experience pain,

fatigue, or both in short bursts. Usually, it will begin with mild

discomfort, or just general pain/fatigue, and slowly get worse over

the next day or two. It will spike on the second or third day, then

the following day will be much better, and I will be fine, except

maybe for some fatige, on the 3rd or 4th day. I'll be great for a

week or two (longest has been a month), and it will start all over

again. I'm also noticing that each time this happens, it gets a

little worse, and my " remission " is just a little less " well " than

the last, for the most part.

This past week and a half have been the worst I've experienced, and

the longest. I'm also getting some new symptoms...the pain is

changing from just a generalized joint stiffness and ache to a

combination of extremely sharp, prolonged pain, pins-and-needles in

my joints (and sometimes my entire arm), and a burning sensation,

sometimes combined with heat, especially in my shoulders. My right

side has also gotten weak, and everything is followed by one killer

of a headache (which could be from the massive amounts of codeine

I've had to take ). It isn't a migraine ( get those more often

than I'd like to admit), but it is really rotten, and is combined

with nausea. I'm also noticing that my hairloss stops during

the " remissions " , and starts about a day before I start to get sick

again, and slows down when the pain begins to subside. I felt

pretty good for a whole day, yesterday, but ended up going in to the

doctor for a steroid injection today when I felt the pins and

needles and stinging in my hands this morning. I can't deal with

another bout like the last one. I was taking 750 mg of vicodin when

I got home from work, went right to bed, and another at about 10pm,

which would take just enough of the edge off to dose a bit. I'd

then have to get up at 1am to take another. I was taking 500mg 1-2

times a day AT WORK just so I could concentrate...and not cry as I

tried to type. It has never been this bad, and my follow-up with my

new rheumy isn't until the 25th. He was nice enough to give this

injection...dang...can't remember the drugs, but they called it a

40/40 injection..anyone know what that is...and it is helping,

though not completely. I still have some stinging/pins-and-needles

in my hands, and some pain in my hips, but it is tolerable. I know

that it is a combination of a fast-acting, short term steroid and a

longer-term steroid. The short term is wearing off, and the long

term hasn't completely kicked in, but I AM better. He is reluctant

to treat aggressively until he knows exactly what is going on, and I

understand that, but I'm afraid of getting hooked on codeine, and he

understands that, which is good.

ANYWAY, this is the first time I could actually get on the computer

to type in the past week or so, so I thought I'd whine a bit, and

see if what I'm experiencing is familiar to any of you.