I'm 35 and have RA and fibro and I've probably had it for years and it just went undiagnosed! The muscle relaxer must be a standard first line treatment for people with joint pain because thats EXACTLY what the dr's first gave me!!! I thought the same darn thing but, it actually did help. It didn't help with the pain in my hands or other joints but it did help me feel better overall and sleep better, which will make you feel better! It took me having a hissy fit at the rheumys office back in Jan to get the RA diagnoses! He just kept telling me I was depressed (I'd just lost a set of twins and my 4th pregnancy a month earlier) so OF COURSE I was depressed but I KNEW I was also "sick." I had to explain to the dr that although I realized I was depressed and not sleeping well and yes, I knew that was making things worse but once he looked at my hands and feet and saw the swelling and took x-rays and say that I already have 20% bone loss in 3 fingers on both hands on two toes on both feet, then he started to listen to me!  Why don't these stupid dr's take us more seriously without having to get all nasty with them?!
The muscle relaxers should help with muscle pain and it'll help if you do have fibro. It won't help the swelling or joint pain. Alieve, which is Naproxen seems to take the edge off and hasn't been to terrible on my tummy. I take 2 220mg tablets morning and night. I also did a weeks worth of steroids, what they called a medro pack or something like that, sometimes its enough to break a pain flare up. That only helped for a very short while for me and I refuse to take steroids everyday. I've been started on placquenil, which is supposed to help slow the progression of the RA down and help with the symptoms but it can take 3-6 months to start working. I've been on it 2.5 months and can't say I see much improvement yet. However, everyone seems to agree that its best to start the DMARDS drugs, like placquenil as early as possible. If you are having swelling in your joints, see a rheumy! The classic sign of RA is pain and swelling on both sides of your body, meaning if your left wrist hurts, so will your right one. Fibro does not cause swelling. I hope you find some answers soon!
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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Re: Update on my doc appt for possible fibro
