Link between stress and RA flareups

I would like to provide my caseworker with a link between stress and RA flares.

I am also looking for a link between pain (chronic or acute) and Bipolar swings.

How long does it typically take to find a medication mix to stabilize pain from initial dx?

Once medication mix is chosen, how much discomfort can the person expect regularly? How often does a flair happen anyway?

I am getting ready to get onto national disability insurance, but I must prove that I am unable to hold a job for an extended period of time. BP and RA are such unpredictable conditions, there is often no way to tell for sure how it will react in the coming months. All I really do is state how I am now and collect information on what could happen in the future. I don't want to go through the flair/swing to prove that stress will make me worse.

If you have any links, please post below, otherwise I would need the author's name and when/where published. Thanks.

My rheumy does nothing more than come in the room, check to see if I have any tenderness or swelling in my hands, list off my medications to make sure nothing has changed. The last several has been all about getting off prednisone. All of the information I have about RA I have gotten off of published material or from a stand in Doc that answered questions for me.

I am looking for reliable sources, but I am more likely to print it off the web than get my rheumy to look it up for me.

It was my Psychologist that suggested that I should get onto SSDI. She does not think that I would be able to maintain employment the way I am with my Bipolar. The thing is, the pain that I have with RA affects my Bipolar swings, and a flair can send me into a spiral. The Bipolar swings make it difficult to treat the RA, because so much of the clinical aspect of it is subjective. Then there is the effect of the combined medications. I spend many of my days in a FOG, unable to concentrate, unable to complete complicated tasks (such as driving) unable to hold conversations without drifting off.

Truly, it is the Bipolar/RA combination that puts me over the edge. I think I would be fine if I only had RA. I just have to prove that it is likely that I will have regular or constant pain for 12 months or more. It would not be debilitating on it's own, but will aggravate my bipolar to the point where the additional stress of working would send me over the edge.

Right now I haven't held a job in 2 years. In that time I was diagnosed with RA and have gone from annoying discomfort to daily pain+ side effects. I loose 2 whole days a week to fatigue after taking a weekly treatment of MTX. I then spend the rest of the week trying to catch up on housecleaning. I have to take regular breaks and do only bite-sized tasks or I have to take more pain meds that knock me out. If I am in a manic I don't bother with the chores, so I am constantly trying to backtrack over what I did while in a manic, and if I am in a depression simply can't deal with it. Loosing that time to a bipolar swing is hard enough when you are "well" when not swinging. Right now I can barely keep the house healthy for my 3 children without the time lost and additional stress given to employment.

Thank you. I didn't know that Google had that option.
It seems to be accepted in the RA community that stress can bring on a flair, or make a flair more severe. I am looking for a study to back that up. I'm going to check out Google. Thanks.