Rib cage and RA

[Angiebabiee76]

Hello there, I'm suffering a huge flare at the minute. The anti tnf drugs, enbrel, humira etc did not work for me. I currently take 15mg of prednisone daily, all in all I take 30 tablets daily including morphine and maxi tram.

I have severe pain in my rib cage on the left hand side. It's so painful it hurts to breathe. I can't stand to be touched on my ribs at all. I'm using ibuprofen gel at the minute but it's not that great.

I also have fibromyalgia so my flares bounce from RA to fibromyalgia all of the time. I honestly don't know how much more I can take. I had to have a depo medrone injection on Friday as my inflammatory markers were sky high..

From Angela Jade

[lorraine1972]

Ok know we are routing for you and keep asking nhs to help they have a duty to help care and keep you comfortable til it passes good luck xxx

[allanah]

I had this recently and it was inflammation between my ribs!

It was costochondritis and I got steroid drip to settle it. It was extremely painful. Obviously you may want yo see your doc and this is just my experiences x

[nomoreheels]

Hiya Angela Jade & welcome. I'm just behind you at 26 a day plus weekly BuTrans & MTX, but may just equal you next week as I've to see my GP about increasing my gabapentin.... it's no joke is it?! Anyway, they keep us better than we'd be without them that's for sure but sometimes we're thrown a curveball & it sounds as though you're in real pain there, do you think it could be costochondritis, it can be very painful?

I would discuss this with your Rheumy nurse on Friday, hopefully the steroid injection will help with whatever is causing your pain. In the meantime if you can stand it try a heat pad or a covered hot water bottle on your ribs. I know you won't want any pressure on it but maybe some heat will just take the edge off the pain.

Let us know how you're getting on & what your nurse makes of it.

[Angiebabiee76]

Hey guys, thank you for your replies, sorry I'm only getting back to you all now. I'm new to this kind of thing (forums) so forgive me!

Well it's been a roller coaster ride within the past couple of months. On top of all the illnesses I'd mentioned before, I've now been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and very recently I'd seen my gastroenterologist, who thinks I have got autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). It is said that people like me who already have an autoimmune disease, is more likely to develop a secondary autoimmune disease. So now I have to have a liver biopsy which I'm not looking forward to one bit!!

It turns out with the rib situation, I had broken my rib by coughing. Although that has healed, I still have pain all over my ribs.. It's a whole nightmare.

I really feel for anyone who has RA or fibromyalgia, the pain is unforgiving and had no set time of when it's going to hit you hard.

I'm trying to stay positive but my goodness it is hard xx😌