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...
So i have been in a flare up since friday went to the ER and they gave me percocet for the pain after an injection which made me puke my guts up. the Er doc said i shouldn't have to stay in the pain and said to make an appointment with my PC so i went in to day to see him and he increased my prednisone to 40 mg for 3 day then 30 for 3 then 20 and back down to 10 a day with celebrex. added to the new mix called my Rhumey and he said he wont do anything for pain management as well as my PC so i'm frustrated about the pain for me. any suggestions comments are welcome i can handle most pain but the last three days with inflammation added to the mix is hard.
If you are in this much pain, you might need a med change. That means the ones you are on have failed.
Also percocet always makes me sick to my stomach. When I had my foot reconstructed I chose not to take it, since the throwing up bothered me more than the pain.
I hope you find a solution to this problem
i can't tell how long you have been in treatment???
the mtx is usually increased to max dose and then a biologic is added when the mtx alone or the mtx with another disease anti modifying rheumatic drug such as plaquenil or sulfasazaline is not working
or when your disease related restrictions and limitations are increased as opposed to decreasing or stabilizing
marlene is nailing it for you: treat the disease not the symptoms.
to make you feel in empathy: my rheumatologist does not prescribe narcotics. oh wait a minute: if you are flying you can get 1 to 3 pills :)
my pcp does not prescribe pain pills.
my rheumie prescribes nsaids and neurontin
my pain management clinic does guided deep steroid injections only and no meds.
I am doing physical therapy under a psyiatrist right now and he doing injections additionally. also now I have this fancy Y membership at a heated medical pool - we'll see how much or how long I can last with that.
i can and have had every nsaid made in the world under my rheumie.
I do not use pred for pain management. i have a bad personal experience when rebounding from it - maybe it arrests and stops the pain for you, if so good until you get better therapeutic treatement.
do you see the rheum about every 10 to 12 weeks? maybe it is time for a visit.
depot
I would guess the doctor gave you the pred as a "bridge" until the right dose of mtx works and the right dose will keep going up until you hit the max mtx dose, probably, and you start reporting you feel better.
sometimes the rheumie adds WITH the mtx another dmard like plaquenil or sulfasazline. it's a chronic disease ad infinitum so I hope you get the pain controlled with treatment soon. The rheumies usually prescribe the pred and the nsaids....saying no pain management is code for no narcotic dispensary i have found not pred or nsaids
feel better with the high pred?
make sure you tell the rheumie you are / have been on the pred that another doctor, the pcp prescribed, otherwise the rheumie is going to think the mtx did all the work
depot
Thank you for your input it has been very helpful to me.