Use of anti-depressants for RA pain!?

Felpaterson

I was wondering if anyone was on anti-depressants for pain relief of RA!? I am currently on naproxen 500 x2 daily, co-dydramol 30/500 maximum dose, dyhyrocodine 30mgs for break through and prednisalone 5mgs x 4 daily.

I am waiting on starting RA medication on friday. I feel all my pain is nerve pain, shooting, stabbing and achy pains.
My GP really isn't much use and is saying there is nothing more I can take. Bt I have heard about gabapentin!? And anti depressants for neuro pain!?

Any advice is very very much appreciated.

Xxxx

marrianne

Welcome to the forum Fal ,The only thing different on your list well the gabapentin I was prescribed when I had shoulder pain ,followed by a steroid jab the gabapentin did not work on its own but still take now as precaution ,the amy trypiline prescribed for sleep and relief of pain ,has an accumulative anti depresent but takes a while to kick in ,hope this helps a little and others can be more helpful .Marrianne

marrianne

Sorry about my spelling at the moment Fel.my eyes are quite bad .Marrianne

dreamdaisy

I was given low-dose Citalopram when I found out that I had OA in addition to my PsA. I was determined to take it for a short time to tide me over but my rheumatology consultant said otherwise. Her view is that it will help me to cope better and I think that makes sense. Amytryptiline is another anti-dep which is prescribed at a smaller dose to ease muscle pain. There are 'cross-over' drugs a-plenty, it's the dosage which may determine what is being treated. DD

Felpaterson

Thank you for the replies, I was wondering if I should push for an appointment at the pain clinic!? Would they be more use than the GP's are!?

salamander

Hi Fal

I took amitriptyline for nerve related RA pain for about a year. Only took a low dose 10-20mg which is not enough to work as an anti depressant but does help a lot with that type of pain (shoulder in my instance.) It takes a while to work but seemed to help.

frogmella

Hi, I have spinal arthritis which gives me lots of nerve pain in my legs. I took amitriptyline for a few months and I think it helped quite a lot. I swapped to gabapentin but I don't seem to be having the same level of relief, but I am still only at around half maximum dose.

These drugs apparently work about 50% of the time and it does depend on the person. Just because one doesn't work doesn't mean another won't.

They do cause their own bunch of side effects though. Amitriptyline made me dopey and I had to take it a good 12-13 hours before I wanted to get up in the morning. I would then be falling asleep on the sofa about 2 hours later! Also you are not supposed to drink with it. Not necessarily an issue for us all, but a bit of a bummer sometimes!
Gaba is making me stupid. A different sort of tired to the ami and very absent minded and I am struggling to concentrate. Faced with a lot of information I just sort of freeze! Not so good as I have just returned to teaching!

But, nerve pain is horrible and normal dullers don't touch it at all so it is the ususal balancing act between good and bad effects!

My GP will prescribe these things when I ask for them, but has never suggested them.

dreamdaisy

There are no easy answers to living and dealing with chronic pain. From what I have read on here pain clinics advise on other techniques for self-management as well as discussing other pain relief options, AC also run courses on pain management so it may be worth checking to see if there is a group in your area or the possiblity of a course coming up soon. I keep the tablets to a minimum so that I have somewhere to turn if things get really bad; I mostly rely on distraction so that my brain is occupied elsewhere and not given the pain too much attention. DD

frogmorton

I take amatriptyline 25mg (noththing like the theraputic dose for it to work as an antidepressant).

Quite effective taken hours before bedtime.

Love

Toni xxx

PS yes try the pain clinic - some on here have had excellent results