Hi Moxiemom, I see you havent had any replies yet, I havent been on here too long. I have always had luck with the steroids, it generally takes a couple days to get feeling some better, but thet do work for me, if I have a real bad flair, it may take a week before I feel any reall releif. i hope your feeling better now, and have found something that works for you.

Go to dr. Urgent care ask for depo medrol shot. It's immediate relief.

Best wishes,
Roni

I see you've had RA a long time. Do you take a biologic?

For me, NSAIDS work really well. Often, etodolac does. I've also heard that a lot of people get relief from muscle relaxers such as flexeril. I don't know the specifics but you might see about some of this with your rheum doc.

The last time I got steroids, they helped my pain, but I got such horrendous side effects that I couldn't continue taking them, so really steroids aren't a viable treatment option for me either. Sorry they're not helping - I know for so many people they're excellent.

Prednisone is what I have been taking, but it gives me insomnia! I have sleep problems anyway so I am hoping if I have to take a steroid that my dr doesn't give me that again!

The first time for a steroid always works great. The second time, not so much. Depo medrol also worked great for me the first time. My PCP would try something different each time once I mentioned that. Even cortisone type injections from my rheumy only helped really well the first time.

MTX and Humira are the only ones that have had any sort of positive lasting effect so far. I'd add NSAIDS, but they only seemed to help a lot at first... I still take them but now I need the big guns to really make a noticeable difference ;)

Maybe you need to increase your dosage a little. Im on Prednisone taper right now. 15 mg for 5 days 10 for 5 days and then 5 for 5 days.