Fifths Disease In Adults (allergies, pains, blood, sore)

[FarNorthDallas]

No, I don't remember tingly or skin crawling. It was more like just pressure on my joints - very intense pressure.

[cazowen]

Since my last post a few days ago things have gotten alot worse. I thought I was on the mend, the pain was subsiding and the rash was going. Boy was I wrong. The pain came back even worse and brought a friend, swelling. My wrists, knees and ankles are the worse.My poor fingers and toes look like sausages. I have to make a joke about it or else I would cry. My daughter had to put my socks on for me today because the pain was so bad. She also has fifths and says her wrists and ankles ache. I am not getting much relief from OTC meds and am going back to the doctor. In response to the tingling, pins and needles I have that alot. My face gets the pins and needles and my legs feel tingly and prickly.Tomorrow will be my fourth day off work. I work in a school and fifths is going around like crazy. I really hope my co workers don't get this.
Hope everyone gets better soon. I'm glad I'm not the only one going through this but hate that we all feel so bad.

[marekeener]

You poor thing. I hope it goes away soon for you. It is funny, when I tell people how bad it is they just look at me like I am crazy. I swear you can't describe the pain. My rash was back a little today on my arms. I am afraid I am going to be in pain again tonight. It was the night after the rash last time.

I am glad to here that you had pins and needles. I was starting to freak out! When you look it up on the internet the first thing that always comes up is MS. It says it is usually the first sign. Even though I know logically it is the Fifth's, it makes you scared when you are laying there at night with a tingling/numb face. I am normally a really healthy person so this has thrown me for a loop.

My Dr. said the only thing I could have for the pain was 800mg of Advil 3 times a day. I asked about the prednisone and she said it would weaken my imune system and make the virus last longer. I wonder if that is why the one lady who posted had hers for so long because she kept getting steroid shots.

Fifth's is going aroud here like crazy too. we are in geogia.

[NurseNancy]

I was diagnosed with parvo approximately 11 years ago. Initial infection lasted only a few days but the swelling in my hands (and the pain) lasted for weeks. For the most part, I do not have pain now although there is always swelling in my knuckles. I am fortunate enough to only have symptoms in my hands. If I do any kind of work with my hands (ie gardening, sailing), I am in pain for weeks afterwards. Does anyone else have this? NSAID's don't work too well. Ice actually works and yes, of course, rest. But as the mom of a 4 and 2 year old, my mom says rest won't happen for another 20 years!!! Ha!

[SandraM]

After reading this forum, I've lost track of who has and has not experienced Fifth as an adult. I contracted the virus in June 2007. As some of you have experienced, soreness, stiffness, and swelling worsened over a period of three months. I had trouble convincing my physicians of the degree of pain I felt, but they seemed to respond to the fact that the pain was so great at night that I could not sleep (shoulder pain nearly made me cry).

The rheumatologist prescribed Dicloufenac (NSAID), but left the pain meds to my GP. Through the most intense pain, I took a couple of narcotics, but then changed to Tramadol. I also took Promethazine to avoid nausea from Tramadol.

***Please do all you can to convince your physicians and families of your pain. With the medical advances that have been made to date, there is NO reason for anyone to deal with pain unnecessarily. And believe me, the pain I felt even made putting on socks a dreaded chore. That's bad.

During the year of Fifth, I also needed two steroid injections for DeQuervains (wrist tendon inflammation). Ahhhhh! Within an hour, my body was nearly pain free and I loved it for the 10 days it lasted. I also got into some poison ivy and needed Prednisone. That too has made the soreness nearly disappear. However, my physicians would not prescribe prednisone for long-term use.

HOPE! I am now feeling much better, sleeping through the night, and know that I will make a complete recovery. After the first four months, I began to notice the pain subsiding. After 11 months, I can sleep through the night with no shoulder pain or arms "going to sleep."

I hope most of you have shorter and less intense bouts with Fifth than I. If you are having intense pain, PLEASE go to as many physicians as necessary to get the help you need.

[jennaflorrie]

I have only recently gone back to work having been off for 2 and a half months with joint pain. They don't know what caused it. I was on prednisilone but took myself off it last week and have been ok - slight joint pain in my hands thats all. when it first started had pain circulating round all my joints. ~Worse in the evening! Had to go to bed and joints so stiff.

Got tested for Parvovirus - fifth disease - Dr said that wasn't what ws causing the problems - as I was positive to Parvo but it was not a recent thing, the immunity came from some previous infection.

So, have been under the care of a rheumatologist - ? Infective Arthritis? Having some more bloods done next week. Hopefully al will improve.

The joint pain at it's worse was awful! It even went into my jaw joint!!!

Went on a juice fast for 3 days - heard that can help with all sorts of things. Google Juice Fasting - it's a real eye opener!

[marekeener]

Well I wanted to post one last time and tell anyone who is reading this that there is an end! After several weeks, I am finally feeling about normal. I only had the pain for about a week. It then went to dull ache in joints and tingling in face and legs. Those things have finally gone away. Good luck to everyone! Hope you all feel better soon.

[canelasmom]

From all the medical reports i've read, 5th's disease shouldn't be such a big deal, however, from what i'm reading, i'm not the only one with nearly debilitating joint pain. Mine seems to flair some days more than others. I guess it's worse for women..? When I first had the symptoms I could barely stand back up from a squat. It affected my entire body including my hips. Now, 3 weeks later, my fingers are in more pain than ever; especially before bed & in the morning..my knees feel like they keep popping out of socket, i can hardly walk down stairs etc. etc. Last week my ankles swelled to twice their normal size. Has anyone tried joint supplements like MSM or Chrondoitin. I plan to & will let you know how it goes.

[crazyma]

Parvo is a tough one. I had it back in '97 (in Georgia then and there was a bunch of Fifth's in the schools)) and I swear I don't think I have ever been the same since. There was some initial concern it was Lymes, but I could never confirm a tick bite, and the docs at the CDC concured with my doc on the Parvo....I just never had a return to my usual get up and go.

[Beachgurly1203]

Hi all of you. I had to reply because this website made me realize I wasn't crazy when I got Fifths. I got it around april of this year from my grandsons. they got it at school. of course they were over it in a few days....mine is still ongoing. I had the worse pain I ever had in my life and I had 3 kids natural childbirth, it felt like a million tiny people had little knives and were stabbing me. I was on the couch for 3 straight weeks, could barely walk at all. The rash was on my lower legs and left a strange kind of scar like appearance, looks like a birthmark. I still get swelling and sometimes the rash and then swelling almost every day. Heat, stress and exercise makes it worse. It is summer and i work so that doesn't help. It is indeed worse for women especially women over 50. Why doesn't the medical community know what it is, my drs all 3 of them didn't know, I told them what I had. I did research and found out and figured it out due to the grandchildren having it. It is better but I just got back from a weekend at the beach where I wore pants the whole time so no one would see the horrible marks on my legs. Advil and cold compresses is the only thing that helped, they gave me a scrip for prednisone however I don't like drugs and haven't heard anything good about that one, so didn't take it. Just have faith it will get better but you may have some long lasting symptoms from this horrible disease no one seems to know about. Take care and get better.