6 WAYS TO SOOTHE A RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS FLARE

Be prepared with an RA action plan that you can initiate at the first sign  of worsening joint pain and inflammation.
Living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often means balancing periods when symptoms are well controlled with periods of flares — when symptoms ramp up suddenly and severely. A flare can turn your daily routine upside down, making small tasks, even getting out of bed, seem impossible.
Though their severity and length can vary greatly from person to person, RA flares generally involve joint pain, swelling, and stiffness, along with overall fatigue. “These symptoms can make activities of daily living quite difficult — getting dressed, preparing food, doing chores around the house, using your hands to grasp objects, and shopping.”
Flares may be brought on by external factors such as stress, infection, or simply not getting enough sleep. It’s also thought that there may be an internal cause, but the process by which it happens isn’t well understood. RA symptoms tend to “wax and wane.” - “At times, the immune system becomes overactive and that leads to increasing joint pain and swelling.”
The joints you use the most frequently are typically the ones most often affected during a flare. These include the joints in your hands and wrists; weight-bearing joints such as your knees, ankles, and feet; and your neck. Flares may affect more joints on your dominant side.

Over the years working with my rheumatologist she has helped me with some steps to take to soothe an RA flare: 

1. Follow your treatment plan. Work with your rheumatologist on an action plan that you can help in the event of a flare, and follow it to a T when a flare kicks in. Everyone experiences RA and flares differently, so management strategies differ. Consult your doctor for a treatment plan for you. In most cases, a regimen of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can bring minor flares under control. More severe flares may call for an immunosuppressant drug or, if you’re already on one, a change in that drug, and a corticosteroid to help tame inflammation and other symptoms.
2. Try hot and cold packs. A heating pad or an ice pack can increase your pain threshold wherever you apply it, with this helping to decrease the sensation of pain. It's recommended to use cold therapy if joints are swollen because heat can worsen swelling. Apply a cold pace, like a bag of frozen vegetables, to swollen joints two to four times a day for 15 minutes each time. You can use heat if joints are painful but not swollen during your flare. Try a heating pad, warm compress, heat patch, or warm bath or shower for the affected joints two or three times a day for 15 minutes at a time. Just make sure you don't overdo either treatment, hot or cold.
3. ​Soothe your body and mind.  Give yourself some extra TLC to help your body recover from a flare. Though it's not always easy, try to relax. Practice relaxation techniques to help your mind and body calm down and recover. Try a little pampering - soaking in a warm bath, listening to soothing music, enjoying quiet time, or sipping on a steaming cup of coffee or tea. Do your best to avoid physically and emotionally stressful situations.  
   
4.  Call for backup. The world doesn't stop when your RA flares, and neither do your responsibilities. When RA knocks you down, put a second action plan in place to address life's other essentials - work, family, and household chores.  Designate responsibilities to each member of your household so that they know how and when to help when a flare strikes. Delay or reschedule anything that's not urgent. Reach out to your place of worship or a volunteer group in your neighborhood that can pitch in when you need help. 
5. Balance rest with activity. Rest is important. Sticking with your regular exercise program, or a modified version of it, may actually help you feel better. Try alternating rest with light activity, which could even be something as simple as slowly raising and lowering your legs while seated. But don't overdo it, and if it hurts, stop. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist about the type of exercises that are easiest on your joints, and whether practicing gentle stretching in the morning might help relieve stiffness. 
6. Prioritize your responsibility. It's important to take action against an RA flare, but there's no exact order in which you should tackle these steps. If possible, try to do all of them together to bring symptoms under control quickly. Since it's an immune-mediated attack on the joints, particularly for a severe flare, it isn't good for people to just wait it out with rest, because the joints may get damaged.  Work with your rheumatologist to manage flares appropriately and to control your RA - don't just deal with your symptoms.

Try to tame your flare as quickly as possible, because the longer the flare goes on, the harder it may be to get it under control.  

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​My hope is that this post will help someone that has RA.
Please leave me any thoughts, questions or if you have RA and what helps with your relief. I would love to hear from you.

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Blessings,
Margarita & Stace