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The worst symptoms I have with Relapsing Polychondritis would be the all over body pain during a flare. It is similar to arthritis pain, but also similar to the feeling you have when coming down with the flu.
Also the flares with my ears are difficult because when they flare, I am unable to sleep on them. They are so painful and hard that I have difficulty finding pillows to sleep on. I am not a back sleeper at all. So my sleep in interrupted throughout the night. For many years, I was diagnosed with ear infections as the canals of my ears would swell shut and be painful. I was working then, so the hearing loss was unbearable. I could hardly hear people on the phone. I was diagnosed with ear infections and given antibiotics and a weeks worth of prednisone. Occasionally, I was given a cortisone shot. I spent 10 to 15 years like this before finally being diagnosed by an Internal Med. doctor in the little town of Gladewater, Tx. The ENT'S, Rheumy's, and other doctors I saw, all missed it!!