Painful shoulders

[Guest guest]

It's the middle of the night here, and again I can't sleep. My

shoulders have been aching a lot more than usual (along with everything

else) since the weather turned bad yesterday. Part of my problem is

that I tend to want to sleep on my side. This seems to aggravate my

shoulders even more. When I tried to sleep on my back all night, I just

stiffened up (again, more than usual) from not moving enough while I

slept. It's now 3:30am and I'm up trying to get the kinks out so I can

go back to sleep! HELP!!!!! :-)

I was diagnosed with RA about 3 months ago, and have not yet found any

meds that really help. Sulfasalizine was a bust, and I've been on

predisone and methatrexate for the past four weeks with no improvement -

instead it's been getting worse. I'm sure the recent nasty weather has

something to do with this, and I'm not sure how aggressive this RA is,

so maybe the meds just aren't keeping up - regardless, my rheumy will

have to make some adjustments when I see him next week. For now, when

it gets bad, I take 800mg. ibuprofen. This doesn't help a lot, but at

least I feel like I'm doing something!!! (It does help for a short

time).

My husband is extremely supportive. I don't know what I would do

without him. He'll massage my back, my neck, my hands and feet -

whatever I need - always without hesitation and often without my having

to ask him. It really helps me feel better in a lot of ways I thank

God for him every day. (BTW, we just celebrated our 25th wedding

anniversary!)

Sorry this is so long. It's good to know that there is a group of

people out there in cyberspace that understand and support, and have a

wealth of knowledge and experience for us RA newbies to draw on.

Thanks!!!

Vikki