Identifying Flare Ups
How do most people with AS accurately identify a flare up?
As with most people with AS, I feel less than good most days. Occasionally I feel much worse than my normal baseline. Those are what I think of as Flare Ups, but the length can be one day to several. It’s just not something doctors teach or train us to identify, so I guess its kind of different but sort of the same for all of us.
In addition, I hate the how do you rate your pain today? question at follow-up appointments. They never seem interested in how good or bad I might have felt on any other day.
Well said, it's important to be aware of your own baseline and take notice of any differential from that point.
I too agree that there needs to be a way to expand the assessment (rating) of pain. Perhaps the question can go beyond the single measure (number rating) at that moment and instead be asked about the intensity of pain over the past 5-7 days.
Thanks so much for chiming in. ~Doreen (Team Member)
Hey
,
That's a very interesting question as I guess there is no lateral flow flare test that we can take!
Personally, I identify a flare if my symptoms have got worse and got in the way of me doing my everyday life things for a few days. We can always just get hit with a bad day or two here or there but I think once it reaches 3 or 4 days I can tell that it is a flare and not just a bad patch.
But I have on occasion had some really nasty flare ups where I have had enormous swelling on my joints and been completely unable to move because of them and increased stiffness and pain. During those ones I know as soon as I wake up that this is an extreme flare!
How would you go about identifying a flare up yourself?
Wishing you well,
James (Community Member)
