Does your rheumy prescribe narcotics for chronic pain?

Mine refused to but my reg doc did and then my rheum and orthopedic surgeons accused me of being a drug addict but that was over 10 yrs ago. im afraid to go back there but I need some orthopedic surgeons.I'm wondering if things have changed. That was the mayo clinic 10 yrs ago. and yes I am disabled and have numerous forms of arthritis and painful deformities.

Aside from RA, I also have fibromyalgia and palindromic rheumatism, which is an unbelievably painful, acute form of RA. I take only methotrexate, ibuprofen, and prednisone. My rheumy does nothing for my pain, he tells me to see my family doctor. Problem is, I'm on medicaid and the state I live in allows medicaid patients to have only one doctor. I can't see another doctor about my pain unless I pay out of pocket. Being low income, that's impossible.

So I suffer. And I can promise you that by the end of the day I am in agony. It had been that I would have to wake up with hours of pain and stiffness, then I got smart and started taking my prednisone before bed. I wake up feeling great, and I have good days. My nights, however, are a living hell.

My rheumy doesn't treat pain simply because he feels a family doctor can handle that just fine. In short, it's out of his field of expertise so he doesn't treat it.

Thank you. I can't imagine having 12 forms of arthritis, that must be terrible.

I'll be in touch soon. Report It

Rheumies do not generally treat pain. It sounds strange but it is true, they consider it to be outside their speciality and they only treat the cause but the pain itself.

However, many arthritis sufferers also suffer from a variety of diseases called myalgias, the two most known are myofacial and fibromyalgia. On the pain scale, cancer is listed as the most painful disease. Myofacialmyalgia or Tic Doleroux (sp) is the second most painful disease.

For pain control you have to go see your General Practioner or go to a Pain Clinic. Things have changed considerably over the last 10 years. New legislation allows General Practioners to treat patients for pain and administer pain killers.

As for being an addict, the Doctor is full of it. The new brands of Codeine and Morphine are not psychologically addictive. They are now formulated so you can not get a "high" from either drug anymore. Oxycodone or synthetic morphine does have a reputation for being addictive, but if you want to get the same or better relief than Oxycodone, the specially formulated morphine has a very very very low rate of addiction.

There are a bazillion pain support groups on the internet. Many members tell of having the same experience as you have had. Rheumatologists, treat arthritis not pain, so they usually refuse to prescribe pain killers. However General Practioners training does include pain control and under the new law they are allowed to dispense pain killers.

Furthermore, your prescriptions are monitored. You can only be prescribed for 30 days at a time and you can't renew until the 30th day exactly. This is to prevent people from hoarding pills for breakthrough pain. Should you experience breakthrough pain, you are forced to go to your GP so he or she can see what has changed. They will up your doseage to keep your pain under control, but they do not want people to hold pills back and administer higher doseages themselves. This prevents them from giving themselves doseages that may be harmful.

Pain control has improved greatly over the past 10 years and your Physician will work with you to get pain relief.

WHAT!

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Bursitis, Osteoporosis. I see my Rheumatologist who not only gives me Cortisone injections, but also prescribes Lidocaine patches and pain medication along with Plaquenil, Sulfasalozine, Feldene for the inflammation and to slow the progression of the arthritis. He also prescribes muscle relaxers for the fibromyalgia. He has prescribed pain killers to ease the pain but they don't work and just messed up my stomach so I don't take them anymore. He nevere had a problem prescribing pain medication. As we sufferers know, this disease is very painful and when there are all these combined the pain is overwhelming most of the time.

So yes, the Rheumatologist can TREAT the disease which is what you want, but also prescribe NSAIDs that help with the pain and inflammation. Also you can only have your prescriptions filled every thirty days according to the directions given by the Physician. But if you do suffer from this disease there are many ways to treat and manage it.

Goodluck and go back and see a different Rheumatologist. Not just for pain management for for Arthritis Management. You want to slow down the progression of the disease not just cover it up...right?