Hello everyone!
I am new here so I will give a really rough background first.
Back in late November I got a really nasty cold. In early December that cold turned into a really stubborn ear infection. I was in the hospital and on 3 different types of antibiotics. I got to go home after 8 days as long as I continued oral antibiotics for 3 more days. My stomach started acting strange(Urgency and mucus in stools) a week after I stopped the antibiotics. I was told to take an anti fungal and got some samples done. Everything came back normal. A few days later my ankle started having some mild pain and my stomach problems were slightly better. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that I must have done something funny while chasing my daughter around the house. I woke up that morning needing to limp, but after walking for a little bit I felt better. Since my stomach was slightly better and I could leave the house I decided to take my daughter out for some fun and run some errands. That night was awful! It was seriously the most pain that I have ever felt and that's including the natural birth of a 9lb 3oz baby. I couldnt walk, I couldn't sit, ice hurt, pant legs hurt, everything hurt! I was shaking, sweating, gagging, I almost vomited a few times, and I passed out. I eventaully went to the emergency room and got xrays. I left with a diagnosis of a sprained ankle and was told to take tylenol and NOT ibuprofen because of my stomach. I couldn't sleep that night. Around 5am after crying all night my husband called our doctor and she told me to come in. She gave me a celebrex and told me to wait and see if it works. Then She gave me a intramuscular shot of tramadol and told me to wait. The pain was still there so she gave me tramadol pills. I fell asleep in the waiting room and finally could go home because the pain was slightly better. A few days later I had blood tests done. My Rhuematoid factor was 18, Creatine was 42, CRP was 101, PPC was <7. I continued the Celebrex, tramadol at night, and volteran cream. I started feeling a bit better and could stay still without pain. The I woke up one day with worse ankle pain, back pain, and elbow pain. I didn't leave the bed that day. I had more blood tests done 10 days after the first and my Creatine was 103, and my CRP was 39. I was sent to Dubai a week later because the doctors were worried that my kidneys were involved. The Rheumatologist in Dubai wanted to eliminated everything (particularly vasculitis, and Lupus) so I had a bunch of tests done. They found microscopic blood in my urine so they started me on steroids and scheduled more blood tests for the next morning. My Creatine went down to 55 and everything else was normal. The doctor said that maybe the large number was a fluke or maybe the steroids already started working after the first day. I left dubai with the diagnosis of Reactive Arthritis and a couple days later I found out I was HLA-B27 possitive. I was on prednisolone for 6 weeks starting at 30mg and tappering down to 5mg every other day. My ankle got better pretty quickly, but everytime I tappered I would have a slightly bad day.
When the steroids were done I started having minor pain more often and I was told it was normal to have some pain and to feel tired for a while afterwards. I could walk around all day, but I would feel pain and stiffness after sitting for awhile after the long walks. I often wake up with pain in my hands and get twinges of pain in other places like my knee, other ankle, and others. Somedays my stomach feels funny like it did at the beginning and I'm almost always exhausted! Even if I sleep 7-9 hours I feel really really lethargic, my muscles feel heavy, my eyes feel baggy, and I want to lay down after a few hours of being awake. It's kind of like the tired feeling you get before a cold. Some days I feel good, but most days I'm so tired. Anyways yesterday I felt extra tired and then my big toe started hurting. I couldn't bend it as much and it hurt just sitting there (It was not like the first time though). Today my toe is a bit better, but it is still stiff. I am avoiding walking for a little bit so I don't aggrivated anything.
Ok so my questions.
Does anyone else still experience mild everyday pain 5 months after their initail flare? How long did it take for pain to go away?
Did anyone else have any warning signs before they got a flare?
Last time I was really tired and achy all over.
Does anyone else feel the heavy lethargic feeling that I feel?
Did anyone have any stomach issues too?
Has anyone had a relapse and had a different joint become affected?
Anyone else get reactive arthritis from somthing other than STD or stomach infection? They think my trigger was the stubborn ear infection.
Has anyone healed and then became infected with the same disease again? Did it cause a flare again and if so was the flare worse the 2nd time?
Thank you!