Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Pain Meds??!

irishrooster
irishrooster
Hi all,

Just wondering what you guys take for pain. Supposedly I have fibro but they have been testing me for years for RA. Reason I bring up the fibro is that I do know I have it..been dxed 4times with it. Was taking lyrica then gabapenten now lyrica again. New rheumy switched me cuz the gaba had quit working on me. Lyrica works great but I can only take it at night so far. My new rheumys web site says that narcotic type drugs like Norco or Vicodin do not work for fibro pain. Well my dad had given me his vicoden that he had used after knee surgery because he would rather whine and have my mom baby him than take pain meds (sorry daddy!!!). Anyway I went into a flare this afternoon and my hands, fingers, wrists, feet, toes, and ankles were quickly approaching the big 10. Seeing how I couldn't take lyrica I took one of his vicodens and 2 aspirins cuz the swelling was pretty bad. Less than 30 minutes later I am laughing with my sons and dancing around the kitchen to Nyan cat...(don't ask). The pain had gone down to about a 2, and for me a 2 is about like a 0.

So I am wondering.....do these types of drugs help with the pain of RA? Cuz if that was supposed to be fibro pain I was having and fibro pain supposedly doesn't respond to these drugs then I would like to tell my Dr. All I know is it felt good to be out of bed dancing with my boys .......even if it was to that darned silly Nyan cat!!! Thanx guys!!!! Irish
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tinaunger50
tinaunger50
yes they work for me when Im in pain and at some points of a flare, they help me get out of bed and move better. I only take them when I have to..right now not at all but in the winter it was everyday.people say they are dependant or easy addicting but they dont affect me that way. tramadol helped in the beginning but stopped working for me as pain intensified. I would ask Rheumy if it will work for Fibro as well. and maybe take it as needed.
irishrooster
irishrooster
Hi tin,

Thanx for your reply. Yes, I can take them also on an only as needed basis. I have had these before for stuff like a bad flu or a sprained ankle. The instructions always say take every so many hours but I found that I would usually only take about one a day...whenever the pain becomes unbearable.

I'm not sure what my rheumy will say about me taking them since his web site says it doesn't help with fibro pain. The interesting thing I forgot to add is that I was also having hip and lower back fibro point pain and the vicodon did not help with that pain. Does make me wonder about the possibility of getting closer to a dx of RA. I also tried Tramadol with Tylenol and it was like taking nothing thanx for sharing!!!...Irish
bcatz
bcatz
Maybe the RA pain is fixed by the aspirin and other. How do just the two aspirin help? Since they are NSAIDS, they should help RA symptoms.
deleted_user
deleted_user
hi, cannot take the meds for fibro, so I take morphine and seems to help take the edge off the pain, like you said a 2 is like being at a 0.
sharonouch
sharonouch
Some days I have to take 1 vicodan so I can go to work. It does help. Prednisone has helped for the really bad flares. I just take it for 6 days. Hugs.
melissaenderle
melissaenderle
Wow - such pain relief has been elusive for me. The fibro pain has been waking me up at night - daytime I can handle, but it gets very wearing at night. Thankfully the RA pain has not been near the 10 level. The rheumy gave me Tramadol to take (as well as Lyrica, but that doesn't have any effect either), but I can't really say I feel any difference. I wonder if I can pick up a few Vicodin at the local pharmacy here in India and see if it helps.
MeganElaine
MeganElaine
From everything I've read, it appears that narcotics work on both RA and fibro pain. Was the pain you were feeling solely joint pain, or was there muscle/bone pain too?
deleted_user
deleted_user
Meloxicam (an NSAID) is suppose to help with inflammatory pain, but they have also found that it helps with fibro pain. It's cheap (on nearly every discount generic list), I find that it does help my joint pain.

Tramadol (Not sure about the tramadol w/ Tylenol) is also suppose to be very effective for Fibro pain.

Two of the rheumatology fellows thought that I might have secondary fibro, but three rheumatologists say no. I have found some relief from mild to moderate pain with Tramadol and Meloxicam seems to help with morning stiffness (less severe, but still lasts the same amount of time as if I hadn't taken anything).

I have Percocet on hand for when my muscle spasms get out of control, but it doesn't affect my joint pain. Although it does help me care less about it, so in a manner, it helps.

So it may be that the aspirin helped the inflammation, while the Vicodin helped you care less about the pain.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I would assume that when they say that narc's do not work on fibro pain, they mean the daily pain, not the flare. Your Dr may be willing to give you meds to be taken during a flare.