VENT AWAY...thats why we are here, right? I do hope you feel better soon. Flairs can be mild to severe and you sound like you are having a real doozy! Just wanted to say i will say a prayer for you and i hope you can find some help in getting to a Rheumy soon! Have you been diagnosed with both of these conditions? Hang in there and keep us posted. Sending a big hug your way! Love, Tory

TW hope you feel better soon ! Wish you could see your rheumy think it is sad that money keeps people from being able to get care. Do you have any free clinics in your area ?


take care
gentle hugs

Hey Dear, sounds like your having one heck of a flare! I've been in one too. Flares are weird, sometimes mine are like a check off list...1 yep, 2 yep, 3 yep, then some are where the heck did that come from thats never hurt before, so then your doing mental check lists of what you may have done to give you the new symptom and thats if the fog ain't too thick, ya know? Anyhoo girl, I gotcha in my prayers and hope you can get into the doc soon. Meanwhile you take good care of yourself! Hugs friend.

OMG...you must be my Halloween Ghost")I thought i wrote that
I can identify with it all.

Thanks for all the hugs and mostly for the prayers. As for being dx, Tory, the answer is yes and no. The answer goes with Emerald's question. Yes we have a Free Clinic. It's Christian operated and I go there.They are wonderful and this is where I was dx. I thought I had arthritis in my hipps. They first diagnosed me with depression. They x-rayed my hipps and done blood test and diagnosed me last Feb. with Fibro. In June the nurse practitioner I see told me my hands were swollen worst than she ever seen so she sent me for more blood work . They then diagnosed me with RA. They cannot prescribe pain meds. and suggested I see a Rhuemy. I went to a clinic that bases it on your income where they put me on Lyrica and Darvacet. I went for a 1 month recheck last Wed. and I seen an old old man that needs to be retired. He had never seen me, he spent 15 min. looking in my file, transfering info from one paper to another. He told me he wasn't convinced I had RA. Asked if I needed to renew Presc..I told him about the elctric shock in my fingers. He told me to come back in 3 months. They were to refer me to a rhuemy, but he isn't taking new patients. Keep the prayers coming. Thanks again, TW

Sending Hugs and Prayers that you feel better soon. Wish there was more I could do.

Hey, TW,

I started having neck and shoulder pain that was killling me last January. I'm on Oxycontin and have been since 1998. It has done the trick for me for many years, but suddenly, I was in agony. Went to a chiropractor who tried to help, but every time I went I was getting worse. She said, "I think you have arthritis". So I started taking Naproxen (I think it's the same as Motrin). Three times a day. It disappeared! So it WAS arthritis after all.
Maybe if you try that trick, you'll have the same result as I did. You do have to be on it 3 times a day for a few days before you know if it works. Hope this helps.

Mizroze

Naproxen is not the same as Motrin. Naproxen is very close in chemical composition to Aleve, over the counter, but Naproxen is prescription only, and it is a NSAID just like Motrin is. Motrin is ibuprofen, and in super-high dosage, it is prescription, low dose is OTC. If you take either of these, take with food, and be alert for any gastrointestinal symptoms, as they can both cause GI bleeding and ulcers. TWGarett, can you try a nice warm bath and also take some OTC Tylenol Arthritis? Be sure to read the label, don't take too much or you can cause liver damage.It sounds like you have a lot of inflammation going on and need some pain relief and something to calm down the inflammation. The OTC NSAIDs, like ibuprofen or Aleve could help you, but not everyone can take them without something to prevent GI upset, like Ranitidine, also OTC, and yes, you need to take them consistently for a couple weeks before you will see any improvement in the pain. I hope you feel better soon!

Sorry to here how bad your hurting,I can relate. In a flare cause I was out in the cold 2hrs for the halloween party for the kids.It like any fun you have, you pay for it later. So do what I did,take a hot shower and relax.I hope you can do that,until your flare goes away,definitely sounds like your arthritis is hitting you to at the same time,I feel so bad for you.
You will be in my prayers,hope it doesn't last to long :)