Order of symptoms of a flare?
I'm trying to pay more attention to flares and this is the pattern I'm starting to notice. I'm starting to document whatever this is so I can be seen by someone when I get my new insurance. DAE have similar symptoms? If so, do they progress in the same pattern?
As I'm fighting something like a cold or similar tame illness, I notice I'll be extremely tired for several days. So tired that I cannot keep my eyes open and fight falling asleep through evening routines.
After several days, I get a lot of pain in my joints and moving feels very tight and painful. It starts with being a little extra stiff in the morning, but just gets more pronounced throughout the day. By the end of the night it feels like literal bone crushing pain that makes me nauseous and dizzy. Last time, I nearly needed my husband to carry me to the tub and back because the pain was so bad. This can happen for a day but many times it's gone on for several days.
A few days later the joint pain lessens, but I'm still stiff and sore. I'll have this odd muscle fatigue where I have a hard time griping and twisting things. Sometimes I also feel like my hands just won't grip properly or fingers won't go exactly where I want them too, partially due to coordination and partially due to weakness.
I also notice that my hands get more plump somewhere in between all of that. Not a soft and squishy swollen, more like fat, tightly-packed-sausage fingers that struggle to bend. This also lasts for several days usually.
Throughout all of this, I tend to get shaky. It sort of feels like the shakiness after working out, but constantly and from simple things like lifting a spoon to eat.
It all gets worse if I am tired, but it also makes me so much more tired. I have to get a lot of sleep to feel better. That, plus Tylenol and heat for pain management seem to be the only things that help.