Rheumatoid arthritis

Fitz

Hi everyone, I’ve just joined this group for some more help and understanding of my condition, I have had rheumatoid arthritis coming up for nearly 3 years and at first didn’t fully understand how the condition controls your life as my symptoms of discomfort and pain was very low at first and the medication I’m on seemed to be controlling the pain and of course my consultant gave me the wonderful steroid injection which for me resets my body pain back to zero, ( I’ve had 3 of these in the past 2 years) now after 3 years I’m in constant pain usually shoulders and hands and feel my medication is doing nothing and I’m constantly taking anti-inflammatory pain killers just to maintain some sort of pain control ...I have been reading the posts and found them very helpful and some great ideas for me to try so I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has posted it’s given me a bit of hope and if anyone has any other good ideas to try I would be so greatful ...all the best Fitz

[Deleted User]

Hi Fitz,

Lovely to meet you, welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I’m glad your first experiences of rheumatoid arthritis were not too painful, it’s very unfortunate that it’s out of control pain wise now. I’m sure your team will be monitoring you carefully to make sure the RA is controlled in its effect on your body and that you are on the best meds to reduce the pain to previous levels.

We do have some good info on pain management, tablets are ok but it’s good to try other things too to help keep control. For myself I like heat mostly on painful joints, and I have a routine to help me get to sleep involving muscle relaxation - this also helps me with particular joint pain at any time. Here’s a link to the booklet on our versus arthritis website

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

It also has advice on exercise which is really good, we need strong muscles to protect those joints and keep them working properly.

Here’s a link about RA which tell you about the types of drugs used to treat it. Also included is on information specific drugs so you will have some knowledge if your medications are changed to give you better control.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/

Do let us know how you get on, and get to know some fellow members by joining any forums you feel comfortable in.

Take care
Yvonne x

stickywicket

That's a lovely first post, Fitz. It's always nice to be thanked even if we're other sure we deserve it

One thing I've learnt, over the many arthritic years, is that pain felt can bear little relationship to the effectiveness, or otherwise, of the DMARDS. So, if your regular blood tests show little inflammation, you're theoretically doing OK. What do your rheumatology team say and are they aware you're topping up with anti-inflammatories as, sometimes, they're not recommended to be used alongside DMARDS. You're probably fine but do check.

Perhaps your DMARDS need tweaking or adding to. It happens to us all. Steroid injections are fine occasionally but not as a regular part of treatment.

We all have to acclimatise to a certain level of pain and curtailing of our wants and desires but I've always believed in conceding the odd battle in order to win the war. How do I cope with the pain? Distraction is definitely the best ploy. The more we think of pain the more we feel. Exercise (s), to keep the relevant muscles strong and supportive is / are also vital. If you haven't been referred to a physio now might be a good time to ask. There are times when only more pills will do. I try to keep these to a minimum as our tolerance of pain relief tends to increase so we can end up on more and more with, apparently, less and less success.

So, basically, I'd say distraction, exercise and, when necessary meds. Good luck

dreamdaisy

He'll, I am in my twenty-second year of auto-immune arthritis and I also have osteoarthritis. I can no longer remember being pain-free and, quite frankly, never want to be because it would only come back.

I could allow the pain to dominate (and sometimes I do) but overall I find that keeping up a small but steady dose of pain dullers (that's all they do, dull the sharper edges), exercise, controlled activity, distraction and rest enables me to get on well enough. I am fortunate though in that I am done with my working years and can take life at a more sedate pace: having been lumped in with pensioners since my late thirties (Ooo, you got arthritis? My nan has that.) I am now one in my own right.

I hope you find the forum to be of interest, conversations happen when people respond so I hope we hear from you again. DD

frogmorton

Hello Fitz and welcome to the forum from me too

I also though your post lovely very kind

You don't say what medication you are taking, but I have to agree with stickywicket maybe the time has come for you to discuss other drug options with your rheumatologist.

Best of luck

Toni xx