I was first diagnosed almost 4 years ago. One of my many symptoms at the time was excruciating pain in various joints that moved around but was usually only prevalent in the evenings. I have been through the cycle - CTX, flare after 15 months, CTX then RTX (1 course of 2 infusions that worked brilliantly). For the last two years I have been on MTX and Pred, besides the other cocktail of supporting drugs. The Pred has been tapering until I came off it completely last week (hooray!).

Just before the final taper of Pred I started to get the occasional pains - they felt slightly different to those I had the first time around, generally not as intense and a somewhat different feeling (hard to explain but nevertheless pains at various joints that move around). Aside from these pains I feel really good, none of the other symptoms I had before and my blood tests are not showing any elevated markers, in fact they are the best they have ever been.

Leads me to the question is this the norm and I just get on and live with it or is it some kind of flare? My rhuemy has seen me a couple of times after I have had a couple of these pains but cannot determine the cause. I am still on MTX and a few other drugs.

As I have not had these pains since diagnosis (and briefly at the flare) I am wondering on a couple of other fronts if it is simply an adjustment to the medication change or if I just need a bit of Pred to keep them at bay? Any views welcome - thank you.