Does anyone have any experience/knowledge of Palindromic Arthritis/Rheumatism?

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I'm waiting for definite confirmation from the rheumatologist but it looks as though I might have this: since April I have been increasingly frequent flares of very rapidly developing excruciating pain with redness and sometimes enormous swelling, travelling between my right knee, right ankle, both feet (sometimes simultaneously), right elbow and once the tendons at the front of my neck. It comes on fast and for no apparent reason, is agony for anything between half a day and two days, then goes off as quickly as it started, and it seems to be the tendons rather than the actual joints. The worst attacks include burning of the skin, which then peels off as if it's been sunburnt. It happened for a day or two every three to four weeks at first, but is getting more and more frequent. For the past month it's been shuttling between my feet almost constantly, with flares in one or the other nearly every day, severe enough that even with high dose Indomethacin and co-codamol it is too painful to walk (particularly to take my weight off my foot, strangely) and I have to crawl around the house on all fours. It is miserable - and particularly so at the moment because DH has a broken ankle and we['ve got no family help, so I can't rest and we only have one good leg between the two of us :(

I've had umpteen blood tests for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus etc. - all totally normal except for slightly raised ESR. I have ulcerative colitis, currently in remission, but had had a blip with that for a couple of days just before the raised ESR. CRP, liver and kidney function, thyroid, ferritin, B12 etc. all normal. I'm going back to my GP on Friday and am basically going to beg for steroids because I can't live like this and it's ruining 6yo DS's summer holiday. We've barely left the house for the past two weeks. Does anyone else have this? Any words of wisdom or things I can do at home to help? I'm getting desperate..... :(

My husband had Palindromic Rhumatism for 5 years or so and has just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

His started much like yours with intermittent and short lived joint pain which mostly affected his shoulders, wrists and feet. It was miserable and frairly debilitating. Initially he was put on hydrochloride quinine or some thing like that.. Both dh and I are racking out brains and I've just been through the medicine box hunting a repeat prescription but I can't remember, sorry.. He was also given high dose ibuprofen. As time went on he had flares which required steroids and was 4 or 5 short term doses of prednisalone which worked wonders. He's also been prescribed diclofenac and naproxen. His diagnoses of rhumatoid arthritis came 5 months ago and he's now on methotrexate Which is working. He doesn't take any pain relief at the moment and has been able to carry on as normal.

He had to use work health insurance to get the initial diagnoses as the GPs didn't have a clue but since we got the ball rolling he's been we'll supported. Do you see a rheumatologist?

Thanks for the reply Methe. I'm glad your husband is doing so well at the moment. My GP is in the process of referring me to a rheumatologist - she wanted to do it the last time I saw her, but stupidly because it was only my third flare and the pain had gone away so completely by the time I got to see her, I was worried about the specialist not believing me and told her I'd wait and see if it happened again. A month of misery later, I'm bitterly regretting that, but I have now got a lovely collection of photos of giant purple feet etc. on my phone to show the rheumatologist if he doesn't believe me! Hopefully they'll be able to find something that works for me - your post has made me feel a bit more positive about the long term. Thank you.

No problem. I hope you're feeling better today. I think palindromic Rhumatism is quite rare but your symptoms do sound just like my husbands. Get one the phone to your dr and see about the steroids. You shouldn't be left suffering!

Thank you. I'm seeing my doctor this afternoon and I've printed out some info to show her. Typically, it's all calmed down again now and my foot isn't hurting at all today, although it's still a bit swollen, so I don't think she'll give me steroids, but at least she'll hopefully get the referral underway.

GP has sent me home with a boatload of Indomethacin and high-strength co-codamol and says we'll try steroids if it gets really bad again, and has referred me to rheumatology for tests for PR. So we shall see...