FLARE UPS

            You never know when a flare up is going to happen or how it is going feel or present itself. There are so many reasons that a flare up can happen, and it is never the same. One time it could be a new medicine but then you can start another new one and it doesn’t affect you. Each time a flare comes it is hard to pinpoint what is the main cause of it. There are times that you can narrow it down but never truly know what the exact cause is, that is the frustration about having diseases that cause flares. If you have multiple diseases like I do, you can have more than one flare at a time. 

            Each flare comes with its own set of issues and pains. If you have never had a flare or aren’t sure what a flare is, it is a sudden severe worsening of the symptoms that have cause the autoimmune disease. It can come as new symptoms, inflammation in the organs, an attack of the healthy part so the body, any number of issues. Flares can be triggered by infections, drugs, the environment, or even stress. The issue is that since there is no cure for the autoimmune diseases, the flares can be treated but it can cause long lasting effects in the body, not always but more times than not. Flares tell people what is going within their bodies and what to be on the lookout for but also that their bodies are feeling weak and need to rest and reset. 

            The bout that your body goes through with a flare is never a pleasant experience as one would expect. The thing about flares is that can affect more than one organ or area of the body at the same time. Flares also bring out the pain that is already present in the body and intensifies it to the point that nothing can touch it, no matter what type of medication you are on at the time. Most people when they have their first flare head straight to the emergency room because they aren’t sure what is happening to them and they are scared. When you are first diagnosed the doctor should go ahead and explain what a flare is and what it might look like. I have found that most of the time the doctors do not go into detail and explain it to their patients. I am not sure why, but I think it might be so they don’t scare the patient more than they already are from learning about what is happening to them. That honestly isn’t the best policy because patients need to know what to look out for. 

            As the patient has their first flare and heads to the emergency room, they are automatically thinking that their disease is progressing and get worse quickly. That is not the case with the flare, it has no indication on how the disease is progressing it is simply the disease freaking out and making itself known. No one wants the disease to make itself known more than it does but sometimes it just has to show out. A flare is also known as a relapse and that is how the doctors and hospitals will refer to it, that name seems to be more stressful for people than simply calling it a flare. With the idea of a flare, you know it will burn out it is not permanent but with a relapse it gives the impression that it could be permanent and could be much worse than it actually is. 

            Flares are simple episodes of the disease increasing in severity but that severity doesn’t last. It gives the patient an idea of what the disease could be like if there is an increase. No one wants their disease to increase but it is inevitable most of the time because the majority of autoimmune diseases are progressive. That is a scary prospect for patients as they are first diagnosed because most automatically assume that they will progress quickly and they imagine the worst-case scenario that know about the disease. What patients need to realize that yes, the disease is progressive but it progresses at a different rate for each patient. No two patients are alike when it comes to dealing with autoimmune diseases, that is why you can’t look at others to know what it will truly be like for you. Yes, you can get a basic idea but remember everybody is different

            So as flares arise, patients don’t need to panic they need to get help and follow the directions on the medication they receive or do what they are instructed to do. I know some of it sounds weird, or feels weird but it is really important to get the flare under control. Just know that the flare will eventually fade out, they can last from hours to months which is the rough part but know they do stop. There are all types of symptoms that come with flares but some of the more common ones are fatigue, nausea, headaches, organ pain, joint pain, many other types of pain. Just know that flares will subside and you will come out it with more knowledge about your autoimmune disease, it does not last forever, and it is not sign that your disease is progressing. I know flares are scary no matter how many of them you have, trust me I have had quite a few, but always keep in mind that they will subside you will get back to the life you had been living before.