Pain meds advice please

angilee
angilee Member Posts: 102
edited 20. Jul 2016, 06:05 in Living with Arthritis archive
Hi Everyone,
I have arthritis in my hips and I suspect in my low back now too..the back pain is awful and I can hear crunching and grinding coming from the place where it hurts.

I have been luck to manage with just the odd ibuprofen up to now..but feel it is time that I may need pain relief from my GP..particularly for the back pain. I am going to visit my GP tomorrow and would like a heads up on what I should be discussing with him..should I ask for pain clinic referral? Also, has anyone here any experience with Naproxen...is it an efffective painkiller for arthritis?

My hobby is hillwalking and I would like to be able to do that for a while longer if possible..with some pain relief.would welcome some advice from those in the know...

Thank you
Angilee

Comments

  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    There are many options out there but none remove the pain, they just dull it: the stronger the pain relief the greater effect on you, they tend to remove us from the pain rather than the other way around which further hampers life.

    I began with 8/500 cocodamol in 2002 then increased to 14/500 in 2007. Now it's 30/500 and, although I have dabbled with tramadol and oramorph I soon realised that they were not an answer because there was nowhere else to go if things worsened. I get by on four 30/500 per day thus leaving room to manoeuvre for when things ramp up (which they inevitably do). I went to a pain clinic but as they told me to do what I was already doing it wasn't that helpful.

    Living with constant pain is distressing, frightening and stressful but that tends to be our lot with our various conditions. We are individual with how we react to the meds, I took naproxen (with a stomach protector) for some time and it did nothing but others find it very effective. If I do occasionally need an anti-inflammatory I take diclofenac for a couple of days but the need for that is rare thanks to my other meds (I have PsA and OA). Chat it over with your GP, he's the best-placed to advise you. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    If you have been managing with just the odd ibuprofen a Pain Clinic might be a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Both ibuprofen and naproxen are NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) and your GP might prescribe one of them. However, if taking them regularly you should also be prescribed a stomach-protecting med.

    Interestingly, (well, to me, at least) my hill-walking, golf-playing husband recently had to see the doc for ongoing hip / back pain which he's been self-treating with over-the-counter ibuprofen. The doc prescribed paracetamol and codeine – separately, not as cocodamol – and a physio. He saw the physio yesterday and he thinks it's all muscular and has given him some exercises which, judging by the yelps of pain :lol: , he started doing this morning.

    I think it's always worth checking out if something can be dealt with by physio. My RA is incurable but I'm always happy to find a pain that can be banished.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright