I am now on my third rheumatologist who now tells me that the painkillers I take - oxycontin, co-codamol and oxynorm all of which are opiate painkillers are obviously not working -give the man a star - he has said that gabapentin may work has anyone used this for arthritis before.
View 2 RepliesI've read some of you responses concerning RA & Gabapentin usage. I have been taking Gabapentin since 2000 for various pains throughout my entire body. I have recently been diagnosed with RA, but doctors will not put me on the required meds because I have COPD & Polycythemia which I am continuing to aggravate because of my smoking addiction. For the past month, I have had excruciating pain in my hip that radiates to my lower back and throughout my right buttocks. The pain is so bad, I have had to begin using a cane. I have no insurance. I have increased my dosage of gabapentin (which has been OK'd throughout the years by my DR's) to try and reach a comfort level of reduced pain. I counter the drowsiness by drinking more coffee to get through my workday. I obtain "pain-free" periods with the increased Gabapentin usage, but I also seem overly energetic or "excitable" during those pain free periods. (reminds me how I used to "feel" before the pain began so long ago . .about 15 yrs already). I'm a 55yo man, have many other health issues as well, including deep depression & PTSD. Because of insurance, I'm only purchasing the Gabapentin and have also started using Turmeric to TRY to help with all the other issues. The Turmeric seems to help, so far. Is there any problem you can see with the increased usage of Gabapentin to become "pain-free" and the mood change during those pain free periods? I cannot afford numerous DR visits w/o Insurance and have to earn a paycheck.
View 1 RepliesAfter MRI my diagnosis was "Lots of mileage left, another 10 years, at least!" (I am 75)! Good to hear but still have to be careful going DOWN stairs! Not too bad going up! Some pain now and again. BUT I sometimes get a strange feeling on upper left thigh, (the worst knee), as if it is wet but when I touch the skin it is totally dry! Happens after I have been standing for a couple of hours.Also, sometimes the skin feels sore, but there is no evidence to show. Has anyone had similar feelings?.
View 1 RepliesStarted getting tinnitus about 3 or more years ago and it has fluctuated a lot but constantly been an issue. Sometimes it gets better only to then get worse. I have tried to keep a positive attitude about this and had succeeded for awhile. Then my hands started to hurt from too many video games and about 4 months ago i got what i believe to be rheumatoid arthritis. Haven't seen a doctor yet for either, my insurance is complicated. I know i have tinnitus and also have had sinus pressure and allergies making it worse. I am in pain most days because of tinnitus and pressure in my ears and at least slight if not worse pain from arthritis all the time. It only seems to get worse. I cant exercise as this makes the arthritis worse in my elbows. Here's the kicker, i am only 24 years old and my philosophy towards pain has always been ignore it til it goes away. Mind over matter. Years of ignoring these symptoms have made living my life very difficult. Every time i adapt, the symptoms get worse and honestly both of these things though medically treatable, cannot be cured and honestly i don't think much can be done. Any advice other than see a doctor would be appreciated. I will see a doctor as soon as my insurance has been changed which i am working on now.
View 1 RepliesMy healer told me, that eggs can sometimes help people with arthritis in hands if it helps at least one person...........he also said not to eat citrus or red meat
View 1 RepliesI also have Spondylosis in the neck, that is definitely food for thought. I have just had spasms in my hips, waist and back due to arthritis in my lower spine so it seems more than possible for this thing could be caused by Arthritis in the neck
View 1 RepliesI have had this skin condition for over 20 years. Like others afflicted, it affects me everyday of my life. I have also suffered a lot of joint pain since my early 20's and it is getting much worse. Lower back pain with a lot of popping. My hips feel very stiff after being at rest for a short amount of time. I also have lots of pain in my elbows. I read online that the two can be linked?? Anyone else with this problem? I also read that hidradenitis suppurativa is also common or linked with Crohn's Disease and IBS. I don't have those, but do have Diverticulosis throughout my entire large intestine.
View 11 RepliesAnd what would you say your side effects are? And how good is the drug at easing your condition?
For me, and I have been taking it for around 2 years now. My condition has improved greatly. But, my elbows and wrists are still not fully flexible, I was tempted to ask my GP for some 'one off' steroid injections to ease the swelling in some of my joints. But other than that awesome.
I do get tired though quite easily, particularly the morning after the methotrexate intake. Folic acid probably eases the side effects though, which I take the following day.
Dr. recently told me I have a torn meniscus, that the whole thing was basically trashed and I should look into having it repaired. I would love to hear from anyone who has had this done. Cant find much on the net about it. Right now I is painful most days, but am a bit fearful about having this procedure. Next step for me is to make an apt with a ortho surgeon.
View 1 RepliesI am starting MTX on Friday and am a bit nervous to start it, mainly because I have some dental work that needs to be done and I cannot afford it. Does anyone know how MTX affects the teeth? Will it make my teeth worse? We do not have dental insurance and I have one tooth that probably needs a root canal and didn't know if the MTX would make things worse.
View 1 RepliesI have been on 1200 mil a day for 3 mos. my pain has gotten better and I an thinking about getting off of gabapentin . I am not going to stop a once. I will gradually get off. Is it any side effects I can expect from stopping the drug?
View 3 RepliesI have had moderate to severe joint pain since April, and was recently diagnosed with Parvovirus B19. Apparently the virus can cause severe Arthralgia that lasts upto 9 months.On good days my pain level is at a 3. On bad days it will go upto a 6/7. Yesterday I stepped on a metal wire and it got stuck in my foot. The urgent care center recommended I get a tetanus shot, since I have not had one in over 10 years. I asked what the side effects were, and they said my arm would be a little sore.
Well, " a little sore" does not quite describe it. My arm was in excruciating pain all night and still really bad today. I can't even lift it more that a couple inches. Also, all my joints on my left side ( side I got the shot) were in excruiating pain 8-9. I just sat in bed and cried last night. I took 3 tylenol arthritis's and an extra Meloxicam that I have for joint pain and it did nothing, My arthritis continues to be really bad today. I called the urgent care and asked if I could come back in to get some medication to work until the pain stops. They said they could not do that, and that the tetanus shot would not aggrivate arthritis.
Let me know if anyone else has experienced worsened arthritis symptoms after a vaccination or shot. I wanted to get the flu shot soon, but I am scared now. Can the Flu shot make me hurt this bad as well? Let me know If I should tell the doctor and ask for additional pain medication. Or if the doctor will just tell me " No".
I am a woman of 56 and have never been overweight and up to these eleven years ago enjoyed good health.
My first symptoms started eleven years ago whilst on holiday in France. My elbow and knee joints became difficult to move and painful, particularly when carrying shopping. A fortnight later on my return to England the pain had increased, my ankles had started to swell and I felt generally very unwell, not unlike an onset of influenza. My doctor thought it may have been an insect bite and prescribed a course of antibiotics which had no effect. He then tested me for Lyme's Disease and put me on a further two courses of antibiotics, none of which made any difference. The Lyme's Disease test was negative.
By this time, six weeks from the first symptoms I was almost bed-ridden. The joint pains were almost unbearable, I felt itchy all over and isolated little bumps that were extremely painful to touch appeared under my skin, two on my hand and one on my rib bone. After a couple of days they disappeared and I was left with bruises. Some of my knuckle and finger joints were swollen and started to become slightly deformed. I found that I was passing water about every 30 minutes and had pronounced anxieties, insomnia and depression....I had never suffered from depression before. I also started to experience heart flutters and eczema in my ears.
In desperation I began searching (pre-Google days) for clues in some home medical dictionaries. I came across gout and one of the recommendations for managing this affliction was to cut out all rich and fatty food. Although I knew I did not have gout I thought my problem may have been related, particularly with my swollen ankles which by then had turned a rather nasty brown colour. I decided to experiment and immediately cut out cheese, butter, mayonnaise, oils and fatty meats to achieve a very low fat diet.
Within two days I was feeling much better and over the course of the next month I continued with my experiment and found that within about 24 hours of starting on a higher fat diet again my symptoms would begin to return. Over the next four years and after spending a lot of money on private consultations with no diagnosis being given my doctor eventually referred me to the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath. The consultant diagnosed Poly-Reactive Arthritis. I told him about my very low fat diet (under 20 grams a day) which I had been trying. He said if that worked for me I should keep doing it. Subsequently I developed lactose intolerance. Symptoms from this appear two hours after eating any dairy but I have not found any known connection between this and Reactive Arthritis. I also developed problems in my lower back and X-Rays confirmed that this was caused by arthritis. I am unable to lift even fairly light weights and cannot operate a vacuum cleaner without getting severe back pains for a couple of days.
The diagnosis of Reactive Arthritis was six years ago and if I keep to my very low fat diet I am able to lead an almost normal life. However, I now find that in the past year I have had an increasing amount of urological problems such as cystitis and what were though to be bladder infections, although all the urine tests proved negative. I have also been investigated for possible kidney stones but again this has been negative although on one occasion there was blood in the sample. I have found out in the past few days through Google that symptoms like this are often associated with Reactive Arthritis and called Interstitial Cystitis.
Recently I found the web site for the Arthritis Research Campaign which has a very good information booklet on Reactive Arthritis and in an answer to my questions advised me that cutting down on fat can make a difference in most types of arthritis including inflammatory arthritis, particularly saturated fats which can increase pain and inflammation in the body.
They directed me to their information booklet Diet and Arthritis on their web site at www.arc.org.uk. In this publication they recommend concentrating on oils such as olive oil, walnut oil and oil from fatty fish. I thought I would again experiment and only eat the fats they recommended even though I felt sure that too many olives and olive oil dressing would cause a reaction. Twenty four hours after crossing my 20 gram threshold my symptoms reappeared then slowly subsided after I returned to my strict diet.
In all of my research I have not come across any suggestion for treatment of Reactive Arthritis by a low fat diet. I only know that it has worked for me so far.
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I've been taking Sulfasalazine for a couple of months now, my hair thinning, I've put on weight (about 8 lbs) I feel really down a lot of the time and my moods can swing, I'm normally such a cheery person
Anyone else had/got reactive arthritis and taken Sulf to treat it? i had most pain/swelling in my knee's.
How my joints are left after having reactive arthritis
View 1 RepliesI'm A 44 yr old female diagnosed early signs neck and collarbone arthritis, lots of pain radiating to arms shoulder eyes etc with eye flicker caused by nerve in neck, could this work for me and where cheapest in UK to buy?
View 1 RepliesI have just read about a new procedure for surgery of the CMC joint in the thumb. It's a much smaller infusion, doesn't involve removal of a whole bone and is supposed to have a much faster recovery time and little loss of strength. It involves an implant called the Bio Pro thumb implant.
View 1 RepliesMy partner has been taking methotrexate for two years but due to the effect of it lowering his immune system he has suffered many infections and problems with wounds healing etc. As a result he has had to take various antibiotics, almost continually, for the past year. He has recently had a severe bout of mouth ulceration which, after research seems to have been caused by the excessive amounts of antibiotics creating a build up of the methotrexate. Does anyone out there know of an effective, natural alternative to methotrexate
View 1 RepliesI have had psoriatic arthritis since age 30 and I am now 67. I have the usual patches on the knees and last year in June I had my left knee replacement operation and they were able to do it without cutting through the psoriasis. I have now been on the operating list 8 times for my right knee replacement and it has had to be cancelled but nobody (Surgeon, Dermatology Dept) can clear my knee for me from the psoriasis. I am desparate for the replacement knee as from my knee my right leg goes out to the side about 12" and I am two inches smaller on the right side which aggrevates the arthritis in my spine and gives me terrible pain. I cannot sit most of the time and have to lay on my side. Can anyone help. I am using Dermovate Ointment 0.5 mg clobetasol and going on a sun bed.
View 1 RepliesI have hand and finger cramping whenever I try to bend my left middle finger. The knuckle at the base of that finger is very red. I do have ulnar compression at the left elbow and weakness of the left little finger as a result. But I have not had this problem before. Any ideas on relieving the cramping until I can see a doctor? Is neurontin likely to help? Yesterday I had no problem with this finger.
View 3 RepliesI have severe arthritis in my neck which also gives me pain clear up to the top of my head. Does anyone else have this and if so what do you do for it?
View 2 Replies