Is this arthritis? Pain relief

Jcqlnroe67

Hi, I'm new to the forum!

I've just come off steroids after 5 years due to a different medical reason but I have been told by my GP I now have arthritis. I'm currently suffering with pain in my wrists, elbows, knees, ankles and now it's starting in my shoulder, collar bone, chest and ribs is it possible to have arthritis in all these joints at one time? Unfortunately the doctors can't help me with any pain relief due to allergies, I have tried 3 different ones in the last 2 weeks and nothing is helping. Does anyone else have any alternatives to help with the pain?

Thank you
Jackie.

Hi Jackie

Welcome to the forums. I am one of the moderation team. We all have one or more of the arthritis conditions or look after family members with the same. I hope you will find help, information, support and light relief here

CK Moderator

stickywicket

Hi Jackie and welcome to the forum though I'm sorry you had to join us.

You ask if it's possible to have arthritis in so many joints at once. Sadly, the answer is yes. I've had RA for many years and, because, the appropriate medication wasn't available when I was young, it led to OA too.

What type of arthritis do you have and which 'docs' have you seen? I'm wondering if you've seen a rheumatologist. If you have an auto-immune type of arthritis they are the ones who deal with it. It does sound as if you might have this type of arthritis given all the places you have it. Pain relief is just an 'add on' with auto-immune arthritis. What's really required are Disease Modifying Anri-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDS).
There are lots of techniques for helping us to combat the pain but, like the pills, they only do a partial and limited job. You might find some help here http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/PublicationsandResources/Selfmanagement

Could you tell us which pills you've tried? We might be able to suggest others.

GraceB

Hi, welcome from me too.

I have OA in a multitude of weight bearing joints. We are all different but that's what makes us all unique!

Please persevere with your GP re pain control. This really is something that s/he should be sorting for you. I find cod liver oil helps me, but I know it doesn't help everyone. If you choose to take something over the counter or homeopathic, make sure it doesn't interfere with any meds you are prescribed.

Please keep posting on this site; I've had wonderful support since I joined.

Take care,
GraceB

dreamdaisy

My neighbour didn't realise that one could have arthritis in more than one joint simply because that was her experience of it, in one hip, and a new hip banished the problem. For many others, however, many joints can be affected all at the same time, for me it's around forty but I am nineteen years in and have two kinds.

You say that your GP has diagnosed arthritis, they are the ones who deal with osteoarthritis whereas rheumatologists deal with the three-hundred-or-so auto immune kinds. Pain relief is not all it's cracked up to be, we use the term pain dullers on here because that is what they do, they dull the sharper edges and no more. If you were expecting all your pain to disappear and not come back so strongly then you've learned the first lesson of pain relief: it doesn't work like that. Pain is the constant companion of our lives and it's hard to live with, it's frightening and always seems worse at night. Whatever measures we take to tackle it the effects are only temporary and don't remove it altogether. I found life a deal easier to live once I couldn't remember being pain-free, that came as a huge relief because it stopped me harking back to something which was never going to happen again. I take four cocodamol 30/500 per day, this is enough to help me through and leaves me room to manoeuvre if things worsen. Some refuse to take pain relief until things are really singing, then complain that they don't do anything. Over the years I've learned that steady drip-drip is the way to go if you can find something which suits. I am fortunate in that I have.

I wonder if the steroids were masking what was happening with your joints? I was put onto them when I had to stop all my meds for my psoriatic arthritis, I couldn't believe that within a few hours of taking my first dose I felt so much better! Little conning miracle workers, I loved them. DD

bubbadog

I agree with DD the steroids where probably masking the pain. Welcome to the site and I hope you may get some good advice from reading other posts.

Bovey1

Hi Jc. Arthritis is a general term encompassing many types of skeletal disease. Pain control is problematic to say the least! I have been on most of the medicines the NHS can offer. All have side effects. Some stop the pain being registered by the brain, those are opiates like codeine and morphine, others stop the pain at source, like Dmards, anti inflammatory drugs, and biological drugs like anti tnf. There are also nerve pain drugs like amytryptiline or nor tryptiline (spelling?) they seem to help chronic neuropathic pain. Your GP is well versed on pain relief but he/she can also refer patients to a pain clinic if your pain can't be controlled. Don't expect total pain relief, and from experience only take the minimum needed. After 20 years of high doses of opiates my bowel has been damaged, so take care. Personally I found acupuncture helpful in reducing the pain, but I still need opiates. I also have a jacuzzi which helps enormously. I also use distraction therapy, do something to distract the brain from registering the pain, (listen to an audiobook or knit, any distraction you enjoy will work) and it does work. I learned that from the pain clinic. I have ankylosing spondylitis, awful disease, but then all arthritis is awful. I wish you all the best finding a regime of pain relief that helps you.