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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 12/30/2010 9:24 AM (GMT 0)
I am in terrible pain from the RA. I actually have RA and Fibro, but the fibro has not been too bad for the last 2 months. I am in so much pain in my joints especially my shoulder joints, neck, elbow, fingers, wrists and even my ankles hurt sometimes too. Every place on my body that bends hurts really bad. I've already tried Plaquenil and the only good it did was stop the stiffening in the morning. It never stopped the pain. It made me feel worse actually. I felt like I had the flu constantly. The only thing I have noticed since getting off is that I don't run a fever anymore....weird.

What is my next step? I am so scared to start an immunosuppressant but I'm at my wits end. It is getting harder and harder for me to do things, especially when I am in a flare. Can anyone here tell me which drug worked for them? I know everyone is different, but I'd like to have something to base my decision on and to also get everyone's opinion. Thanks so much!!

Post Edited (CajunGrl) : 12/30/2010 6:20:38 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/30/2010 10:38 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry to hear you're suffering so much right now. Try to remember that it's temporary, and you will get through this. I know-easy for me to say, but I woke up in a full blown flare the day after Christmas, so I sympathize. I was diagnosed with RA almost 2 years ago, and as a chronic pain sufferer, I was already on some pretty heavy-duty narcotic pain-killers (synthetic morphine) and they did absolutely nothing to relieve my RA pain, which was unbelievably extremely, excruciating!!

What did work for me was Prednisone, the steroid. I take it in pill form daily. I'd gotten down to 9 mg/day, but was hit with a mild flare while I recently had pneumonia, so rheumy increased it to 10 mg/day. Then when I awoke several days ago with a full-blown flare, he increased the prednisone to 15 mg/day, just until I'm over the flare. Then I'll go back down to 9 or 10 mg/day again.

When I was first diagnosed with RA & in such terrible pain from my first ever flare, my rheumotologist put me on a "shock" dose of Prednisone (a higher than usual dose) temporarily, just until the pain was under control (a week or less-I really can't remember). Next, he lowered the daily dose to the lowest dose that still controlled the pain. I didn't like the idea of taking a steroid, but my pain was so great that I decided it was worth the risks.

I know it's a bad drug for long-term use-lots & lots of awful possible side effects, but when it's the only thing that even touches my RA pain, it's really hard to stop taking it. I already have chronic pain from a bad auto accident 12 yrs ago, and there's only so much I can take! I'm still on Prednisone today, as well as the narcotics for the chronic pain, but we've been gradually lowering my daily dose of Prednisone for some time now, and will continue to lower the dose as much as possible.

So, that's my pain relief experience with RA so far. I hope it helps, but I also hope someone else comes up with something better that works and doesn't have so many possible, scary-bad, side effects. Good Luck, and Hugs & Hugs & Hugs (and prayers) to you. You know you're not alone!! Please keep us posted on your progress.

Best of Luck to You, ladywriter
Posted 12/31/2010 1:23 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much for sharing what worked for you. I was actually on hydrocortisone for about 5 months and it did help a little bit. My rheumy wanted me to get off though. I'm not sure why but I slowly weaned off of it. He never put me on a high dose of steroids. I haven't been in lately to see him because I just get to a point where I feel that nothing will work, so why waste my time. I guess I need to make an appointment though and let him know how bad it's been again. Thanks again hun. I'm glad something is working for you.
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