Arthritis

I think you need to find a new Dr.  If my Dr. told me she was going to take me off of pain meds, and have me sit in a dark room I'd scream.  I have RA and Fibromyalgia.  I was only just diagnosed with RA about5 months ago.  Now at least I know why I was in so much pain for the last 17 years.  It wasn't from the Fibro.  Good luck take care.

topaz05

Hi. I'm Jenny, the new/old person here. I also take hydroychloroquine and methotrexate(by injection...really easy and no pain)with an occasional added pain med or an NSAID. But since our new person has yet to take anything except codeine, I thought maybe someone should explain arthritis meds and since I used to do this all the time on the old site, thought I'd lend a hand.

What you take depends on the type of arthritis you have. If it's osteoarthritis(wear and tear) then you usually get treated with a "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug" or NSAID. They are drugs like Advil or Motrin or a whole bunch of others but in prescription strength. Pain drugs may also be included. Celebrex is also a type of NSAID called a Cox-2 inhibitor and is supposed to be more gentle on your stomach.

Inflammatory arthritis is an arthritis that can not only affect your joints but usually affects the whole body and in some cases, can be fatal. This includes rheumatoid arthrits, lupus, a whole sub-set called spondyloarthopathies and some that don't even have joint problems as symptoms. So the drugs are stronger. Hydroxychloroquine(trade name Plaquenil) is a malaria drug that helps with inflammatory arthritis. Colchicine is used for gout but can also help other forms. Methothrexate is actually a cancer drug that when given in small amounts can shut down the inflammatory reaction. All of these are pills but methotrexate can really upset the stomach so many people are switched to injections. Mine is due tomorrow and I can honestly say, a mosquito bite hurts more. The hardest part is getting over the fear of plunging a needle into yourself.

Beyond those drugs, there are a whole bunch more called either DMARDS(disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) or TNF(tumor necrosis factor)inhibitors. You see these advertised all the time...Enbrel, Humera, Remicade, etc. Most are given by injection or IV.

All of the drugs for inflammatory arthritis can have very serious and even fatal side effects so they are used when the disease can have the same consequences. Why give a drug that can kill for a disease that can't?

The third kind of arthritis is infectious and that's when you've gotten and infection in a joint and it's treated with IV antibiotics. You'll know if you have that because you are really sick.

So the first step will be to figure out what kind of arthrits you have. Blood tests, x-rays and MRI's are the tests used to figure that out if it isn't apparent. I knew I had osteoarthritis in my knees because I hurt them in an accident as a teen. But when other joints became involved, then they had to figure out why and the tests came in. Now I know I have 3 different forms but the last, the inflammatory, is still unspecified.

Hope my little primer has helped. I wish I had known all of this before I saw my first rheumatologist 30 years ago.

Good luck at the doctors.....................Jenny

One thing I had to do what change my insurance to a PPO.  I had a HMO but when you have a chronic illness, HMO's SUCK.  I was having to fight for everything, tests would have to approved, most drugs were denied.. but prednisone encouraged, etc... horrible.... open enrollment came around and we changed to a PPO.  Over the years, as healthcare prices have risen, so have the premiums... for a while, we were paying 1000$/month just to cover our portion of the premium (work covered the other half).  Now that dh promoted and is in a different bargaining unit, work pays 2000$ of the premium and we only pay around 150$. 

But I still have a 500$ deductible for 3 of us, $20 office copays and 20% of all procedures, tests, etc.  Unfortunately, we find it necessary to stay with this insurance despite the costs.  I am incredibly thankful that we can afford to keep it.  My new sleep medication is 1014$/month.  A month!!!! 

And if that's not bad enough.. my pain doctor who's a family physician had to change his practice cuz he was going broke- he's now a concierge practice which costs me 1500$/annually and I still have my copay, etc.  He's in a major city and I live in a suburb type city of 300K but medical care seems to be far behind.

I know I get my premiums worth of health care but I'd give my husband's left kidney if I didn't have to.

Good luck to you.

If you're in CA, email me and I can give my docs name.

Gentle HUGS

Nicole

Hey Shesh...your GP is an idiot. Knee replacements can last 30 years or more and now they even have replacements developed specifically for women. I had both of my knees replaced at 47. They are almost 8 years old and look as good as they did the day they were put in. Most orthos now prefer to put them in before you become too inactive so you'll be able to do the exercise necessary for full healing.

Sorry your mom died so soon after getting her knees. That's another of the problems with waiting too long. Younger people do better. Worth looking into with an ortho. But look for one who does joint replacement as the main part of his practice. The more they do this, the better they are.

Jenny(cobalt/nickel knees, stainless steel shoulders and titanium neck)