Pain killers

art

hi im art living with arthritis. want to know if community has any tips on best pain killers - im floundering because those prescribed dont suit any ideas folks

Louisa77

Hi @art

Getting the right painkiller to suit you can be a challenge and everyones different, speaking to your pharmacy can be helpful.

Here's some info which might help while you wait for other members to respond Painkillers and NSAIDs | Side-effects, uses, time to work (versusarthritis.org)

Best wishes

Louisa77

Baloo

Painkillers don't help me to sleep, so I think we can cross that off the list, as all it would do is make me go stiff.

What I do know is we are supposed to keep mobile, so I take painkillers to keep more mobile in the day.

This means I can live with a certain amount of pain and moodiness without painkiller, and it seems to toughen me up, but if the pain and moodiness is stopping me from moving about, I take some painkiller.

Baloo

In fact, without pain killers, I notice if I get depressed from being too busy to get a break for example, I start feeling weaker and weaker. Getting weaker is not something you would normally notice about depression, but for us arthritics the affect stands out.

Judi1012

Having tried every painkiller known to man!!! (It seems like), I have found co codamol 30/500 treats my pain, although i try not to take too many or i get a codiene headache. Celecoxib is an anti inflammatory which is good for my stomach ( I take when I have a flare) and amitriptyline I take to help me sleep (I started taking these after my 2nd hip surgery) and I find they really help.

Baloo

Painkiller performance seems to vary. If I start a course of paracetamol the first dose heats me up, but the impact on pain is quite good. Then it seems to settle down. with periods of more pain poking through, and sometimes I wonder if its doing anything. I take it because I think overall I will be more mobile, and less likely to just sit around, and hence better off. Im still aware of painful joints so I can be careful to nurse them a bit more than others. I'm still aware of cold type flare ups from achey bones in the evening and still swear and curse when I get one.

If I stop taking them I can't say the pain is unbearable. I can live with it for weeks, but I have noticed I am eventually more likely to feel down. I know when that happens, when I try to get out of a chair I sometimes sit for a while with my brain telling me "don't bother". Thats when I know I'm in trouble, and walking is going to be an effort too.