pain in joints

November 3, 1999

Debbie,

I have severe pain in my hands, fingers,elbows, wrists, ankles, knees and my

spine. I have Lupus. I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I get a

massage once a week on Mondays and have to take meds to sleep and get a long.

I have severe pain in my hands and cannot move my fingers without a " shock "

type pain. IT HURTS! I wake up with numbe arms from my elbows to my finger

tips and it makes it rough for getting ready in the morning!

Take care and go see the Rheumie! I am going to mine today for injections!

I CAN'T wait! They seem to be the only thing that REALLY help for a period

of time!

= )

November 3, 1999

Hi Don,

I agree that withholding pain medication is cruel. My docs tried to lower my

doses of pain medication while I was still in the hospital. Didn " t want me to

get addicted. This seems to me to be the last thing they should worry about

when you take the amount of drugs we are required to take. I also understand

why the docs have concerne, but when you have legitimate pain I expect to get

help or find the cause.

Gayle

November 3, 1999

Hi Debbie,

You need to find a doc who has experience with autoimmune patients. AIH,

Lupus, RA, and many others are all autoimmune diseases. The primary

difference is the organ or organs that are affected. Common to nearly all of

them is joint and muscle pain, as well as fatigue. Though it is possible to

have Lupus or RA in addition to AIH, it is rare.

How was your AIH diagnosed? What meds are you taking? Blood tests are far

from perfect, and many things can affect them, but witholding pain

medication seems particularly cruel.

The diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases has undergone many

significant changes in recent years. Many primary care docs have not kept

pace with these changes. It sounds like yours is one of them.

Don

AIH Minneapolis

November 3, 1999

Dear Gayle:

I have just the opposite problem with my doctor. He would much rather throw

pain meds at me then to try to find the cause of the pain. There have been

many times that I've had pain so severe that I had to go to the ER, yet all

they usually end up doing for me is saying, 'Sorry, we can't help you. Here,

have some pain pills.' I've been given pain shots before they've even done

any tests. I guess is just depends on the doctor. The really sad thing is

that the pills don't even really help the pain, they just make me sleep.

Since I have a small child, I end up suffering the pain during the day and

then taking the pain meds at night.

Kathy (AIH)

Seattle area

November 5, 1999

Debbie,

As far as my doctors know, I only have AIH and I've been having pain since

the disease first turned serious and was diagnosed. At first it was mainly

in my feet, which ached and throbbed, but eventually it settled in my back

and legs also. It became considerably worse when I was weaned off

Prednisone so I had to go back up to 10 mgs., just so I could get

around. I've also had pain in my left side from the start. This is true

of many or even most of us. For some reason, most doctors don't think that

this disease causes pain but they're clearly mistaken.

However, you still have to be prepared for your vulnerability to other

autoimmune diseases, so it's always possible you have developed or are

developing more than one condition. An acquaintance who lives nearby has

recently been diagnosed with Lupus and her condition is now stabilized but

her biggest complaint is also joint and muscle pain, mostly in her legs,

feet and back.

Doctors have this great fear that all of their patients are potential

addicts so they don't like to give pain medication. That's unrealistic and

even cruel, though their intentions are good. Vicoden has made it possible

for me to lead a relatively normal life. A Rheumatologist prescribed it

for me with full knowledge that my Hepatologist wouldn't give it to

me. She went to med school with my Hepatologist and it didn't bother her

to contradict him. She routinely treats people with chronic pain and

believes it's cruel to allow people to suffer unnecessarily. Before I

started taking it I told my Hepatologist that she'd prescribed it (at her

suggestion) and confirmed that one or two per day would not cause further

harm to my liver.

Believe it or not, there have been studies about physician reluctance to

prescribe pain meds and in one case (State of Oregon) a doctor who withheld

pain medications was successfully sued. Explain to your doctor that you

need pain relief while he explores the possibility that you have another

condition besides AIH. Or, find another doctor!!!!

I've never been told that Vicoden affects my labs. Your doctor sounds like

he may have a common case of " pain relief phobia " . There seems to be an

epidemic of it in the medical community. Let him live a week in your shoes

and then see how he feels about all this.

I also, incidentally, have occasional pain in one of my thumbs, like carpal

tunnel syndrome must feel. I test negative for arthritis, RA and Lupus.

Take care,

Geri

November 22, 2006

I am a 60 year old male. I have pain in my left hip-back area and left

shoulder that has been with me for about years. I have tried all the

new anti-inflammatory drugs and they kill my stomach. I am currently

trying lortab 7.5 about once a day for pain and it seems to help. I

have a hard time straitening up when I have been riding in a car for

more than 30 minutes. I walk 2 miles a day and eat well. I am pre-

diabetic and keep my blood sugar under great control with diet and

exercise. I just do not want to become addicted to this pain medicine

but so far it is the only thing that has helped other than the bextra

that was banned last year I think. Any help on this would be

appreciated. Tom

November 28, 2006

Tom,

I am Gloria from Okla. I was diagnosed with ra in May 2004. I have

had 4 surgeries, both hands and 2 on my right elbow. As far as

stomach pain, I have found that prilosec otc works wonders. I am on

10mg lortab 2 pills 4x daily. I take phenegren for nausea with the

pain meds. My rheumy says as long as you take them as prescribed you

should not become addicted. Prednisone is also great for the pain,

but has lots of side effects. I can't take it anymore because I am

diabetic and it drives my blood sugar way up. I think that you

should get a good rheumatologist and get a plan going to treat this

thing. There are alot of great treatments out there.

Hope this helps.

Gloria

>

> I am a 60 year old male. I have pain in my left hip-back area and

left

> shoulder that has been with me for about years. I have tried all

the

> new anti-inflammatory drugs and they kill my stomach. I am

currently

> trying lortab 7.5 about once a day for pain and it seems to help.

I

> have a hard time straitening up when I have been riding in a car

for

> more than 30 minutes. I walk 2 miles a day and eat well. I am pre-

> diabetic and keep my blood sugar under great control with diet and

> exercise. I just do not want to become addicted to this pain

medicine

> but so far it is the only thing that has helped other than the

bextra

> that was banned last year I think. Any help on this would be

> appreciated. Tom

>

November 28, 2006

The trouble you describe doesn’t

sound like typical RA to me because it only affects one side of your

body. If it is arthritis you should be seeing a board-certified

rheumatologist for it because few other doctors are qualified to diagnose or

treat it. However, if it is a different problem you might need to see a

nerve or orthopedic specialist. You might need to get an MRI to see what

the problem really is. I’m not medically trained but you do need to

get more effective treatment from someone. God bless.

From:

Rheumatoid Arthritis

[mailto:Rheumatoid Arthritis ] On

Behalf Of tdark35010

Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006

8:06 PM

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Subject:

pain in joints

I am a 60 year old male. I have pain in my left

hip-back area and left