God. Little to say except the usual sympathy, and hoping to god you don't have too much longer of this.

Hopefully not, although the signs my veins are giving out are both disgusting and a bit unnerving.

Actually in posting this I was thinking of seeing if anyone of the few medically informed readers had wisdom in this area as to the typicallity of this pattern I have noted.

Perhaps you are simply more distracted during the day and don't notice the feeling quite as much?

Very possible, very possible.

I don't recall hearing this complaint, but I can always come up with a plausible theory. There's a daily cycle ("circadian rhythm") for a lot of body functions ("circadian rhythm") and one is adrenal hormone secretion. Normally, you get a surge in the early AM, around the time of waking. The low is late afternoon and early evening. Since cortisol inhibits inflammation, it could be that it's holding down the inflams, and wearing off late in the day.

I don't know that this is helpful, since corticosteroids are kind of heavy duty and can have side effects. If your platelets are OK, the usual aspirin type drugs should suffice.