A flare up is when you are doing fairly well and.then BAM everything hurts really badly and/or everything swells up all of a sudden.

Extreme fatigue can also be part of the flare. What you describe I run into a lot. I call it hitting my wall because I just can't do anything but sleep.

I was like this Friday... set off on school run 8.15am and by the time I'd got to my eldest daughters school the pain in hips was getting unbearable then driving to work the pain was in my knees and toes aswell I was in agony so called docs to get an appointment after work and ended up in tears (felt Stupid in front of my work colleague's )doc rang me back and got me an appointment for an hour later. He put me on sick for 2 weeks and told me to take 2 co codomol instead of the one aswell as my other meds . While I've been off I've spent all my time indoors in the warmth apart from school run. Not too bad at moment ..hoping to get back to work next week coz I can't afford time off

I usually know I'm going to have a "flare" when I get achy. No joint pain at first. It's like the first symptom. Then I get a low grade fever and just feel sluggish almost like the flu. To me that's my warning sign. Then at night is when it starts the joint pain, swelling,

Severe pain and inflammation in your joints, could possibly be more than one joint, could last anywhere from days to months. If its in your hand/hands most likely you won't be able to grasp things, in your foot .....limping and so forth.