Hi janers,
Thanks for big update.
I guess we can say that next year, you'll know where not to park your butt. :))

I'm sorry to hear about your joint pain but glad hubby is doing better.
J

Janers, Glad to hear you are back...Not much worse the for the wear...
Glad to hear that hubby is better...
Sorry to hear that  your body didn't want to play and you had to take all
the extra meds...
Hugs Cindy M

When my arthritic pain flares up its uauslly due to something I ate that I
probably shouldn't have. I've been diagnosed with SLE for 6 years now. I'm
only on 5mg of pred right now and one Aleve. I don't have any joint pain or
inflamation. However if I drink a beer, my inflamation begins to flare up
along with joint pain but usually goes away with 24 hours. If I drink two
beers it flares up more intensely and lasts longer. I'm sure you know your
body and I 'm not a Dr but just from my experiences, maybe if you take
notice of what you eat prior to flaring up maybe you can determine whether
you may be alergic to some food item. I also cannot eat yougurt. What do
they have in common. Live yeast cultures. Of course my Rheumatologist does
not believe its due to food alergies in fact a lot of the things I bring up
he refers to them as "urban legends". What ever works for me. At least I'm
not taking a handful of meds anymore. You get a side-effect, they give you
another med, and so forth. I've lurked on this site for years , monitoring
all of your stories but I don't like to hear about people in pain.

When I was first diagnosed with SLE, I was weak, in a lot of pain, in a
wheel chair because it hurt to walk. I was anemic which makes matters worst.
I had lost 4 pounds. I looked old, very old for 44. They gave me a megadose
of pred and put me on Plaquinil. It got me out of the wheel chair and helped
me onto the road of more pain. I must've had every side-effect of Plaquinil.
I quite taking against my Drs wishes. I also quite taking the pain pills.
After a year of mild pain and stifness it subsided. I was reduced down to
20mg of pred. The I reduced myself down to 10mg against the Drs wishes but I
began to feel better. Then I realized too much pred causes my muscles to
hurt. So I reduced to 7.5 which I was on for a couple of years. I strated a
new job and had to walk a good 1/4 mile to get to my office (big parking
lot). That was painful but after a year of walking, all my pain subsided. So
I parked further out and reduced my pred to 5mg. Dr wanted me not to drop
below 7.5. Now its been three years of walking across that wide parking lot.
I have absolutely no joint pain, no inflamation, and strength has returned
to my hands. I can open water bottles again. Of course I sustained lung
damage from the onslaught which I still think some of the lung problem is
due to Pred which my Dr denies. something to due with urban legends. We'll
see when I wean myself off from the Pred. My opinion is how do you know if
your body is recovering unless you get off the meds. I'm an Engineer by
trade. I deal in cause and effect. I search for what could've caused my
initial onslaught. Maybe its because I was making homebrew. Homebrewed beer
is a lot stronger than our domestic beers in the US. I was sampling a lot of
home brew. I know for a fact beer cause my flareups. I avoid beer and
yourgurt, and also MSG. The whole bottom line maybe it is food allergies.
Just take note of food you eat and how you feel within 24 hours after you
consume. If you begin to feel bad. Don't eat that item again after yo begin
feeling good again. then if you're adventurous and suspect something.
Consume a small quantity and see if you begine to hurt. Thats how I did it.
I know 1 beer will cause a little pain the next day but sometimes I have to
have a beer and am willing to suffer the consequences. Maybe 2 beers a year
is all I have now. I know this is a long post but I wanted to get the point
across. Maybe the root cause is something not commonly accepted throughout
the medical community.