Joint Pain Relief

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While I'm awaiting seeing rheumatologist, does anyone have any suggestions on pain relief for joint pain? The leading theories from the doctor that referred me to rheumatology is rheumatoid arthritis and/or Behcet's disease, and my joint pain is worsening a lot over the past couple of months. I finally have a date for rheumatology but it's not for a few more months and I really need to start taking pain relief as the pain is worsening. My shoulders are what's bothering me the most.

I've tried taking paracetamol which does nothing, and ibuprofen also isn't effective. I had some relief taking paracetamol with codeine yesterday but I'm aware taking codeine daily would be far from ideal.

Sorry you are struggling, have you tried the gels like Volterol/ibuprofen gel that you apply directly to the area? Or could you ask your GP to prescribe something such as Naproxen or whatever they suggest.

Also have you tried things like heat or ice? They won't take away the pain but may help slightly

Yes I could ask the GP for stronger pain relief I suppose. I think they may be reluctant though because we don't know the cause of the pain yet and my rheumatology appointment is still months away.

The problem with the gels is that I now have pain in so many areas! I suppose I could prioritise the worst areas alone first and see how that goes. Which is my shoulders.

I've tried warm baths but that hasn't helped in the way it does for muscular pain. Again it's hard to use heat/cold therapy because of how widespread the pain is. But again I could try when I'm sitting heat on shoulders or something.

Dh has arthritis in pretty much all joints. He just recently got a medical cannabis prescription, finds it helps massively. Might not be your sort of thing though.

I wouldn't rule it out later down the line/last resort type thing but Im not there yet. because if I do have RA I would be prescribed some kind of medication to control it anyway. So it's really just this interim period whilst I await a proper review and diagnosis of whatever is going on, so I don't think cannabis would be an option for that. But thank you for raising it.

Yeah I understand what you're saying. Dh has been on amgevita and methotrexate injections and prednisone for two years now which have made very little difference.

It's a bloody awful disease that really does involve trial and error with meds and they're sadly all so slow to work.

He found diamorphine good for pain control but unfortunately enjoyed the high it gave him!

We have a microwavable heat bag that he finds good, heated gloves and insoles help. Biofreeze gel gives a wee bit of relief for a bit.

When my pain flares up, I have arcoxia (a stronger anti-inflammatory), codeine and sleeping tablets. I don't take the max dose of codeine ever and try to manage 2 days a week without out to avoid physical dependency but the benefits for being pain free outweigh the risks to me (based on discussion with my GP)

Voltarol is also my go to choice. I have osteoarthritis in my hands and arm and it's amazing.

Etoricoxib (brand name arcoxia) - an anti inflammatory which was much more effective for my inflammatory arthritis than other pain killers.

Thanks all, GP has prescribed me Naproxen . Told me take it regularly for a few weeks and then try and wean down and contact if any issues. Hopefully it will help a bit, was wincing in pain and had to keep stopping pushing my (young) toddler up a (small) hill in the buggy this morning eurgh.

Has your GP offered you any pain relief whilst you wait for your appointment? I think there's a ladder of pain relief that you can go through to find one that suits you.

I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis about 6 years ago and was on Gabapentin and then Pregablin. Neither really worked for me and the coming off them was awful as they're very addictive. Codeine doesn't work for me and I've ended up taking oral morphine which I couldn't take as it simply knocked me out for hours! I've now got Oxycontin for when I need it but holding off. You can be referred to a Pain Management Clinic to see if you can have physio and/or they can prescribe anything else. I find the massive lidocaine plasters are great for my painful feet.

I now have RA and waiting to try out steroids. I hope you manage to to find something that eases your pain.