What is the easiest way to get rid of pain? Would pregnancy affect what drugs i take?

Beth98

My name is Bethany Pritchard i am 21 years old. i have been living with arthritis for 16 years i was diagnosed when i was 5 years old. I have been on many biological drugs and had many pain killers from paracetamol to morphine yet nothing helps with the pain..i work as a care assistant at a care home which i am on my feet constantly i am always in pain yet sitting down all day i stiffen up. I have tried everything yet nothing helps?? And pregnancy i would eventually like to to start a family..but i am scared that my child might get so i am worried as i don't want my child to get it and be in the pain i am in yet no one in my family had it when i was diagnosed. Is there any guarantee that i would not pass it on to my children.. :) many thanks beth

Annj

Hi Bethany and welcome to the forum, it's good to have you with us.

It's sounds as though you've had a long and difficult journey with arthritis so far.

In terms of the question of a genetic/family link - it's a difficult question. There isn't one gene that causes arthritis, the current thinking is that arthritis is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental / lifestyle factors (such as diet or exercise). I believe some types of arthritis may have a stronger genetic link than others (although I've just googled this and although it gets mentioned often online it's not easy to find out which types are thought to have a greater or lesser risk - certainly OA and RA do often get mentioned as having a genetic component, I'm not sure about other types of arthritis). Scientists are still very much in the stage of researching and trying to understand the causes of arthritis. I think it's true to say that there may be an increased risk of passing it on to your children; there is sadly certainly no guarantee that you wouldn't. However, equally, there is no guarantee that you would - just because you have it doesn't mean your children definitely will. Unfortunately it's one of those risks that's impossible to protect against. There are plenty of instances where children of people with arthritis don't develop it, just as there are instances - like your case - where someone has it without any apparent family history.

Pregnancy itself can be a strange thing with arthritis - some people find their symptoms disappear or lessen during pregnancy, others can develop autoimmune forms of arthritis for the first time in pregnancy.

What type of arthritis do you have? It sounds as though you've probably tried pretty much everything in terms of pain relief and it's difficult if your job is physically demanding.

I'm including this link to the section on treatments on the Versus Arthritis website, just in case there is anything you may not have tried. It includes therapies such as hydrotherapy and physiotherapy:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/

Also this section on exercises to manage pain may be helpful:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/exercise/exercises-to-manage-pain/

If you feel able to give a bit more detail about what type of arthritis you have and what else you've tried it may help others with offering their suggestions and thoughts. The forum is great for sharing experiences with others and perhaps finding suggestions to help you. It's also good for just venting when things are difficult or for finding some enjoyable chat to distract you!

Best wishes and hope to see you around on the forum - do feel free to join in or ask questions.

Ann

dreamdaisy

Hello, I am forty years older than you and decided aged sixteen not to have children, a decision I have never regretted. The reason is simple, my childhood was ruined by asthma and eczema (inhalers and steroid creams did not come along until I was eleven) and is now further spoiled by more drugs to keep my psoriatic arthritis under control. I also have osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, all thanks to my cruddy genes. Neither parent could be bothered to have what they donated to me and apparently this common, the dross can skip a generation. The creation of every life is an unwitting game of Russian Roulette but to play it 'wittingly' was not an option for me.

Pain? It never goes, end of. It might vary in intensity but pain relief relieves very little when it comes to chronic pain such as ours. It's mildly effective for acute pain but the causes behind that - headache, tooth ache, stomach bug etc - go away. The stronger the pain relief the more you are taken away from the pain and the body grows in tolerance leaving one needing more and more to get the same effect. I guess you began with JIA, has that morphed into RA or another kind of auto-immune? DD