I am wondering if anyone else has this phenomenon, Is it common, in PsA to have a really painful joint or tendon that eventually calms down, only to find that a different joint or tendon flares up. It's like a game of "musical joints"....you never know which area is going to act up. A knee or ankle will give me a horrible flare and then it will calm down as mysteriously as it developed, but then my neck will flare up.
Sometimes I wonder if I am CRAZY. How does inflammation occur in one area and not another if this is a systemic disease?
I would really like to know if any of you have this roaming inflammation like I do, or just have joints that are consistently inflamed without much change.
Mimi, I love the "musical joints" term. I am going to borrow that one for my next rheumy visit. I have often thought maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. I too have this phenomenon and wondered about the systemic thing too. How can one explain to someone that they have "arthritis" that travels around on a daily sometimes hourly basis. Especially when most people with "arthritis" usually have only OA and it is in one joint. I have been looked at like a hypochondriac many times.
I really dislike the word hypochondriac because hypo usually means lower ; so I feel it should be hyper. lol Just one of my many quirks.
No we're not crazy. I was complaining of the same thing and was chewed out at my last appointment. She once again pointed out what I was complaining about was, pain which was the least accurate measure of the disease. She went on to point out 20 other joints that were as inflamed as bad or worse than the ones I was complaining about. There were lots of reasons why some hurt more than others. (most my "fault")
Stand on Wii balance board or look at your shoes. We have terrible posture (usually form pain) we finally compensate for the pain taking stress off the joint just in time to screw up the other one. Seriously once i went to work on good posture with the help of my PT and the Wii board my knee problems cleared up..... if I follow my shoulder "rules" (long list of exercises, do's, don'ts how to sleep carry etc) they don't bother me at all. Fall alseep in the wrong position, and I'm screwed.
This happens to me, too, and I thought I was crazy! Yesterday, my sternum was so painful, it hurt to move and breath. Today it feels perfectly fine, but my left SI joint pain was so bad I could hardly get out of bed. I don't understand it.
Me too. Sounds like there are a lot of us. Every time I go to the rhumy I complain about a different joint. I was worried she thought I was faking cause she has said nothing about it, just writes it all down. I also get stabbing pains that come and go in different joints. Sometime it is so startling that I just and say ow before I can stop myself. If I'm someplace public I get strange looks.
And I thought this was just some stupid thing I had going on. This board surely helps me deal with this condition. My wife is an RN and she still doesn't "get it".
I went to the rheumy yesterday and explained the same. I said I have pain, but it seems to affect some joints one day and then different ones a few days later. I wake up not knowing where the pain will be.
Doc said some of his other psa patients describe it, too. He used the term ’ migratory’ and made a note in my chart. I was just glad that he believed me and I didn’t get scolded for my complaining.
And I thought this was just some stupid thing I had going on. This board surely helps me deal with this condition. My wife is an RN and she still doesn't "get it".
I've been having the same thing, and it's severe to the point of difficulty walking and even sleeping at times. I'm having a lot of pain in my SI joints, but my right leg is especially bad. Not so much the joint itself .. possibly tendons, ligament/muscle etc from my buttocks right down to my calf, even into my foot when it's really bad. I'm also having similar pain in my shoulders, tingling in my hands, etc. It even affects my neck at times. My Rheum is sending me for an MRI - he's wondering if it's Enthesitis or Ankylosing Spondilitis. He hit my rt. shoulder with cortizone a few weeks back but wants the MRI before giving me cortisone in my Hips etc. He says the MRI will tell him where the inflammation is.
Not only is this scaring the crap out of me, it's extremely painful as many of you know all too well. I've even missed work over this, and I'm only able to work part time. Yes, I'm really scared, wondering what's going to happen next :(
I have musical joints, too. Tonight, my right hip complained when took a shower. The other day, my left thumb (my THUMB!) decided to act up. I didn't get to take my MTX dose last Friday (dental work this week), so my left Achilles decided to make its appearance alllllll week.
My doc makes notes. This last time, he said Achilles trouble is "notoriously difficult" to treat. I love you, Doc; I'm happy you're honest but sheesh.
I can get variations of this. From years of a bad joint pain then it comes good, but it never goes completely after years as by then there is some damage and often disfigurement which leaves me with always some pain with movement or use and the difference is that I don't notice the pain until I do something with that joint.. Then there are other those joints which hurt for days or weeks and go but I no sooner get rid of one painful joint before I notice a new one has appeared. Then there are those joints and back pain that has been there permanently.
I do think it doesn't take much to aggravate an already existing painful joint especially if we favor one side over the other when walking or doing things. It makes a difference to me what shoes I wear these days.
I have both musical and migratory joints! At first I thought you meant musical as in cracking and snapping Mimi! I got that too. Some of my joints seem to be painful other times I think most of my pain is tendons and ligaments not joints. It makes sense to me as I get myself in really weird positions to do things I use to do so easily. I do use as many aids as I can but sometimes I just have to get some leverage going for a tough chore (usually in the garden) and am really glad I do not have neighbors near enough to see me!
Michael, lol I do have neighbors and when I am "working" in the yard I often wonder what they are thinking about me. We just moved to this neighborhood last November so they really don't know anything about me, except that they probably think I am crazy. Oh well, I am ...
Yes, have that too. For me the pain seems to migrate to one hand, knee or foot on one day, then the other the next -- the only ones that seem to come and then really go are in undersides of my feet beneath the toes.
One day, by mid-morning, I can walk relatively normally. The next day, I am doing the Frankenstein all day long.
I've been having VERY short-term pains- top of my foot yesterday, a knee that almost went out from under me today, and pains in my back that literally took my breath away midday. Now both knees and a wrist are starting. Crazy making.