This is my impression of the difference between a flare and an exacerbation:
Flare
Disease progression and additional demyelination and nerve damage resulting in new or significantly worse disability / symptoms.
Exacerbation
An exacerbation of existing symptoms, as a result of excessive heat, stress, eating something disagreeable, or other activity that triggers existing symptoms.
In January, an optic neuritis caused temporary blindness in one eye. There was demyelination, resulting in a bruised optic nerve. The inflammation has healed and the nerve is back to about 66%. This incident was a flare.
In July, there was debilitating neuritis pain in that eye when we had a lot of smoke happening in our area, and air quality was really bad. The pain was gone in a day or two. I considered this to be an exacerbation.
If a person is on disease modifying therapy and they have an exacerbation, this does not mean the overall disease is progressing - it just means symptoms are exacerbated by whatever you're doing. This is also why eating a good diet is good for reducing symptoms but it does not necessarily stop progression.
Does all of this sound correct?
Flare
Disease progression and additional demyelination and nerve damage resulting in new or significantly worse disability / symptoms.
Exacerbation
An exacerbation of existing symptoms, as a result of excessive heat, stress, eating something disagreeable, or other activity that triggers existing symptoms.
In January, an optic neuritis caused temporary blindness in one eye. There was demyelination, resulting in a bruised optic nerve. The inflammation has healed and the nerve is back to about 66%. This incident was a flare.
In July, there was debilitating neuritis pain in that eye when we had a lot of smoke happening in our area, and air quality was really bad. The pain was gone in a day or two. I considered this to be an exacerbation.
If a person is on disease modifying therapy and they have an exacerbation, this does not mean the overall disease is progressing - it just means symptoms are exacerbated by whatever you're doing. This is also why eating a good diet is good for reducing symptoms but it does not necessarily stop progression.
Does all of this sound correct?
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