Dad has arthritis

Ellcex

Hi,

My dad is 63 and started suffering with arthritis back in March. Seemed to come on overnight, and he's in a lot of pain. He takes 8 methotrexate and he's almost finished his second round of prednisolene (I think that's what it's called). They seem to be the only think that has an effect, until the dose is cut and he's back in considerable pain again. He's also tried apple cider vinegar twice a day.

Today is pretty bad and he cannot get out of bed. It helps his hands when he soaks them in hot water, but he can't even do that today.

His arthritis is in his shoulders, hands and knees.

Does anybody have any little tips AT ALL that might be able to help? I hate seeing my dad this way and I have no idea how to help him.

barbara12

Hello Ellcex
And welcome to the forum, your poor dad, he shouldn't be in so much pain so I would see your GP or Rheumy clinic and let them know how much pain he is in..has for now he could use heat on his knees..I use a wheat bag that you warm in the micro..has for the shoulder ice seems to work best think it because you get more inflammation there.
He must try and walkabout, sitting still will leave him in more pain when he gets up, I know its not easy but you have to keep the joints moving.
I do hope he can get some help soon, it must be awful for you to watch him in pain...x

LignumVitae

I do hope it settles soon. As perverse as it may sound when you say he can't get out of bed, a bit of movement and exercise really helps. Maybe not when in the middle of a flare but ask for a physio referral, they may be able to get things moving gently - once a joint stiffens it hurts even more so getting it gently moving can help.
Other than that, rest, being kind to himself, taking each day as he goes, baths, ice if he finds that soothing and maybe check out his mattress - I and others find a mattress topper helps provide a wee bit of comfort.
What a lovely caring daughter you are - feeling loved and supported, able to communicate with your loved ones can help you battle arthritis so you will be helping lots.

dreamdaisy

As he is taking methotrexate it would appear that he has an auto-immune kind of arthritis (there are close to 200 different kinds of that) and it can take time to bring the disease under control. Obviously meth alone is not cutting the mustard so it may be time for him to see his rheumatologist again with a view to either adding in another drug or changing to a different one. I am on a triple therapy (three different medications) which are controlling my auto-immune arthritis but this happened far too late for me to gain any noticeable benefit.

Pred is a wonderful drug but it only masks the symptoms, it does not address the root of the trouble. It cons us into thinking that all is well but, with long-term use, it causes harm to the whole body because it thins every bodily tissue and bones. He might as well stop the cider vinegar because it does not have any effect on the immune system which is the source of the problem here. What is he taking for pain relief? DD

Ellcex

Hi everyone, thanks for all of the advice. I ended up phoning the rheumatology outpatient line and my boyfriend took me to pick up his new tablets yesterday. Sulfa something? I don't have the leaflet with me right now. They've also put him back on 5mg of prednisolone for 4 weeks instead of finishing 2.5 next week as planned.

He's on co-dydramol, but we're going to speak to the GP about it as I read that pain killers long term can be less effective so we'll try and swap them to something else if possible.

He's out of bed today, better than yesterday but we still appreciate all of the tips that we can get!

trepolpen

hi Ellcex , MTX + Sulfasalazine are the normal drugs they start you on to treat rheumatiod arthritis , been on these since 1996 , they do take some time to work & his consultant can maybe look at one of the newer drugs

they steriods can work very well but are not ideal for long term at high dose , some people take a maintainance dose like 7.5mg , it would be good if he came on the forum himself because everything he will go through , someone on here will have had the same experience & alot of us have had RA a long time

dreamdaisy

As Trepolpen has said, meth and sulphasalazine are a very common pairing for RA plus other forms of auto-immune arthritis, I've been on sulph for twelve years now and in my case it helps my skin stay reasonably clear of psoriasis.

Any form of pain relief loses its 'effectiveness' over time because our bodies adjust to what is being given, hence people taking increasing quantities of dullers (as I call them, they don't take away the pain, just dull its sharper edges). Learning to live with pain is a hard lesson but a useful one; yes, there are strong forms of pain relief but they take you away from the pain rather than vice versa. Dependency can also become an issue, in my case I prefer not to be a legal addict, supplied by my GP. Men have more pain receptors than women so they can feel pain more acutely - what we take in our stride can pole-axe a bloke. DD