Ok gang, i am reading and reading and reading.......
Can anyone tell me the difference (pain wise) between an RA flare and a Fibro Flare? I have been diagnosed with fibro for a while now, and now my GP is running bloodwork to see if I also have RA, which she suspects given the pain i am having and the swelling in my fingers, knees etc.
I just want to know how I would know the difference between the two flares? i just thought it was my fibro acting up, which it still might be i suppose, but I would love to hear from someone who has both to see if there is a distinction.
thanks and take care
Jo
Jo, I have both RA and fibro too. I was diagnosed with the RA first so, I cant tell you if the fibro causes swelling, but I do get alot of pain in my leg muscles, ribs and chest from the fibro when I have a flare.( lately everything has been flared up) My Rhuemy hasnt really told me the distinction either and I havent read alot that would tell me. I also get sore spots in the strangest places the he says are the fibro. When the sore spots start I find myself looking for bruises that arent there. I found that zanaflex can help with the muscle pain and help me realx enough to get some sleep. Sorry I couldnt help more.
I have suffered with Fibro for 30 years. Painful arms, legs, back, neck, chest. It would travel around. Sometimes in my legs, sometimes in my arms...etc. I managed my fibro. Hated it but was able to still do things and later pay for them but that was ok. When RA hit me....it changed my life. The pain is unlike Fibro. Sharp pain, burning pain, aching and the big difference is swelling. Never had any swelling with Fibro. RA wipes me out. I'm exhausted from the constant pain. With Fibro I could still excercise. Infact, mild excersise helped the Fibro. Not with RA. I can't excersise at all. I would give anything to go back to having just Fibro again! :(
I agree that RA hits mostly at the joints during a flare where they actually get hot and very painful. Also I feel very sick and my pain goes off the charts. The FM seems to focus more on muscles and soft tissues. When the RA is flaring, it does seem to make exercising almost impossible and you can actually hurt your joints if you try to do too much during a RA flare.
I hate having the combo though because doctors want to blame it on FM and not treat the RA properly. Since they don't have good treatments for FM, at least not many I'm being offered, this doesn't help me much.
Unfortunately, they can flare at the same time and I think that is part of the reason it is so hard to distinguish between the too. RA also affects soft tissues in causing bursitis and tendonitis. Between the two of them, your joints and muscles are being pulled on all the time which can cause some major movement problems.
Mild exercises including water therapy and physical therapy can help you build up some. But it won't stop the flares from happening. RA is considered easier to treat because you have all these medications that have shown good results. In the last few years, it seems that the only things that they are throwing at FM are pain killers, antidepressants and muscle relaxers.
I'd love to hear about other things that might help.
I asked my rheumy about this last week. She said that, basically, RA is in the joints and fibro in the muscles. I told her when I first got sick with fibro a lot of the pain was in joints. She didn't have an explanation for this. I do know that there is no swelling associated with fibro. I also asked if there was any new treatment for fibro (I was diagnosed in 1991). She said there was a new drug (didn't catch the name) that looked hopeful but it was too soon to tell and she is not prescribing it.