Good Morning!
I have a rheumatologist appointment this afternoon and I’d love some advice on questions to ask. I’ve been on plaquenil, cellcept, methylpredisolone, tramadol and the occassional vicodin but lately my pain and joint inflamation isn’t under control at all. In fact, the pain seems to have spread to my muscles. I can barely walk most days. I was considering asking about Benlysta, but I was also curious about other pain management medications that I’ve heard about that seem to control joint and muscle pain. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your help!
I take zanaflex (muscle relaxer) three times a day and I take MS Contin twice a day. Most days my pain is under control. When I have a bad flare, I have dilaudid to take for the pain also.
Thank you! I’m so ridiculously on edge because of the pain. I feel like I’ve torn every muscle and broken every bone in my body. I will definitely ask my dr about those options.
I’ve been taking Cymbalta. One pill a day (30mg) did nothing, but when it got increased to twice a day (60mg total) I noticed a HUGE improvement. I do not have fibromyalgia, but I also get muscle pain, especially at night. I am on all the other meds you are on except I am not on Cellcept.
I went through a bout of pain that I think is similar to what you're describing. It started with my joints hurting really bad, especially my hands and wrists. The pain then just seemed to be in my muscles as well. I think that was fibromyalgia acting up.
I am on plaquenil and I have muscle relaxers and tramadol. During the month or so of pain, I took what seemed like a lot of tramadol to me - I hate to take it daily and try to limit myself as much as possible. I also took the muscle relaxers to help me sleep, but I can't take them and function, so I could only take those before bed.
I don't know what to tell you to ask for. I saw my rheumy a couple of times during this bout of pain and he really had nothing useful to tell me or help me out. There was a suggestion of an anti-depressant that might help with the muscle/fibro pain, but I hated to have to take something all the time when I typically don't have horrible pain all the time. I'm just so thankful that the worst of the pain went away after about a month and even though I have some pain most every day, I want to hold out on taking a daily medicine for as long as possible.