'I'm hurting, I want to kill myself': rheumatoid arthritis flare is more than a high joint count--an international patient perspective on flare where medical help is sought

Abstract

Patients use flare for multiple events and seek help for complex clusterings of intense, unprovoked symptoms that defy self-management, not necessarily captured in joint counts or global VAS. Flare terminology and definition have implications for clinical practice and trials, therefore further research should establish a professional/patient consensus.

Patients’ Experience of Myositis and Further Validation of a Myositis-specific Patient Reported Outcome Measure — Establishing Core Domains and Expanding Patient Input on Clinical Assessment in Myositis. Report from OMERACT 12

“…The category Strategies included examples akin to the category self-manage -ment that has emerged in OMERACT qualitative activities in other diseases 11 . Finally, a category of Emotional Factors was identified describing grief, sadness, depressive moods, and anxiety, but also resilience, coping, and acceptance.…”

The effect of alpha asarone, olive oil, and dexamethasone on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in the mouse

“…Clinical symptoms include stiffness of the hand and foot articulations, articular inflammation, bone erosion, pain, widespread vasculitis, including coronary artery disease, severe lung fibrosis, fatigue, and depression [31][32][33].…”

Pain in systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases

“…The structural changes associated with RA (erosions and joint space narrowing) cause greater pain, but they may explain only 2% of pain intensity after adjusting for factors such as current disease activity [58]. Psychological factors also influence pain reporting [59,60], and depression has been associated with greater pain [61]. The experience of pain is therefore multifaceted, and it includes both sensory and emotional components, as is shown by the fact that pain can persist despite adequate control of inflammation [1,2].…”