Leah, are you on Plaquenil to treat your Sjogren's? If not, that would be the first one I would discuss-though your primary doctor may want your rheumy to supervise that as it has to be monitored and you will need an eye exam every 6 months.

If you're already taking Plaquenil, you might ask your primary doctor about prescribing Celebrex or Tramadol. I take Celebrex for osteoarthritis and Tramadol for fibromyalgia and between the 2 of them I usually keep my pain under control.

I totally feel for you and went down the same road last year at this time. I was on plaquenil, methetrexate, and a high dose of steroids. nothing helped the joint pain. I tried marijuana...it helped me relax and not think about it as much, but didn't help for pain. I am now on a monthly Benlysta infusion and have had no pain since last March. It took a few months of letters from my doctor to be approved, but worth the wait. I am ony on plaquenil and benlysta at this point. If you are looking for alternative medicines and can afford acupuncture, that also helped with pain management to some degree. Best of luck, I hate winter as well. It is suppose to be -45 windchill here in Chicago on Monday, UGH!!

Leah-
Pain control is one of the biggest issues many folks with autoimmune face.
If you are not feeling relief from your pain then the doctor needs to address it. Each of us react differently to medications so what works for some may not work for you.
First and foremost are you on plaquenil; methotrexate or prednisone?
I have dealt with ongoing pain for about 12 years now. I take plaquenil ; vitamin D; multivitamin; omega. 3 and flexaril( muscle relaxed for sleep).
My doctors tried me on many antidepressants for my pain and they didn't do anything except make me extremely agitated. Sleeping pills caused me to sleep walk. Prednisone makes me feel great but it can only be used for s short amount of time.
Finally a primary doc tried me on the Butrans patch for pain. It is slowly releasing a trickle of pain RX and I wear one patch for the week and then put a new one on.
They work great for me and I feel almost normal again.
I have tylenol with codeine for breakthrough pain.
I live in Oregon and this state has crazy strict laws regarding pain medications. I have to sign a pain contract with my doctor and submit to random drug tests to make sure I am being responsible with my pain medications.
They have medical marijuana here but I don't want it. Washington has recreational marijuana now so anyone can buy it and use it.
Once you have discussed your pain situation to the doctor you could ask about trying medical marijuana.
I just moved to Oregon from Montana where its always in the minus degree temperature

Hi Everyone ~ I'm new here and have just recently been diagnosed with Sjogren's ~ though i think I may have had it for years, I have a new family doctor and he had some questions about my blood work and sent me to a hematologist and he sent me to a rheumatologist,, My blood work showed positive for Sjogren's and also for lupus though apparently I have no physical symptom's of lupus. So far I've been offered nothing for my pain. I told my doctors that I've been taking 2 tylenol with an Aleve morning and night.and I have tylenol with codeine for the times when the pain gets too much for me I maybe take one of those every 10 days . Today is one of those days. My feet give me a lot of pain and last June I had my left ankle fused. That has been a long healing process. I feel like I've lived with the pain for so long that I didn't even know there was anything to be done for it ~ just something I had to live with. I'm 76 years old but whatever time I have left I really don't want to spend it sitting in a chair. I so want to e able to work in my flower bed and vegetable garden this summer. Am I expecting to much?

hi leah my name is sarah ive been on Plaquenil 200mg 2x a day for nearly 4yrs i also take 120mg Cymcalta(i take this for depression) and im on Gabapentin 600mg in am/pm and 300mg in the afternoon (i take this for migrains) all of the above are supposed to help with npain but i still have days like i am today were the pain is just more than i know how to deal with. last nite i couldnt sleep my joints all ached and i couldnt get comfortable. ive told my drs and they tell me to take ib but i dnt think they understand that that doesnt cut it. were i live medical marijuana isnt legal so its nt really an option for me. i am curious should u decide to go that way how it works for u? i feel for u and hope u fine a solution i will say plaquenil doesnt relieve all the pain but it does help overall and is deffinatly worth talkin to the doc about. i wish u well :)

hi again i recently saw my primary who is sending me back to my rhymy for pain management she menchened
lyrica as a possible addition to my treatment to help reduce pain and make it easier to function/sleep

I have been hearing that National legalization of grass is on the way so hang in there. You may be able to just buy it sooner than later. For right now my pain management is tramadol and valium. I use the valium for several things. Muscle spasms, anxiety, RLS and on and on. Really does help. I often think the tramadol isn't doing much but when I ran out I found out how much it does help even though not perfect. I have been on both for over 4 years now. I live in North Carolina and there are barametric changes constantly and high humidity. Both of which always manage to make me feel worse. I couldn't take plaquenil was/am allergic to it and was never offered anything else. Good luck finding what works for you or at least helps.