Quick question

Hi All,

i wondered how do you know the difference between pain and a flare? I thought I had slept funny and have a bad neck but 2weeks on I am still in quite some pain. So is it a flare or just one of those things? My GP isn’t really interested in helping me and there is a month wait for an emergency appointment with my neurologist so any ideas would be great.

Not sure if it helps but my usual symptoms are sight loss and pain and numbness on one side of body. I have been having difficulty with sight recently and being emotional and completely exhausted but thought that was just me and life lol.

Sorry for rambling but hope someone can help tell the difference?

hi sammy

sorry but i can’t answer your question about what a flare/relapse actually is.

at first i assumed that i’d know within a couple of years but it’s now 9 years and i still have no idea.

can you see a physio?

or an osteopath?

osteopath is great, he/she will manipulate your joints and generally it helps a lot.

good luck

carole x

I’d agree with Carole - try and get to see a physio (particularly a neuro physio, if you are lucky enough to have access to one of those). They should be able to tell you if your pain is muscular - in other words, if you’ve strained something - or if it is neurological - which would mean it’s been caused by a relapse or flare.

Does the pain reduce if you take ibruprofen? If it does, it won’t be neurological, because standard painkillers have no effect on this. You’d have to take Gabapentin or something similar to reduce it if it’s neurological pain.

Thank you for your reply. No medication at the moment helps I have tried Ibuprofen and cocodamol. I feel it is easing now but still quite uncomfortable so I think going to a chiropractor wouls be a good start (I don’t know why I didn’t think of this!) to see if I have pulled a muscle. Would you say anytime I get things like this I should inform my GP or is it not worth it?

Thank you

Hi Carole,

thabk you for taking the time to reply. Do you think it’s beneficial to always let the GP know if things like this happen? I will definitely look at seeing a chiropractor that’s a great idea

it’s so difficult as there are no yes or nod in this condition everything seems to be a maybe or a could be. I’m too black and white so not good with maybe

thank you again