Back pain

[5teve]

Here I am again not put a post on here for nearly a year now my medication was changed to leflunomide and started to work with help with some steroids never felt so well now off steroids for some time now only on for 2 weeks . But this week was struck down with chronic back pain taking me upto 1 hour to get out of bed and suffer all of the day getting stuck when sat down for a while and using 2 walking sticks to get around , it got that bad had to phone 111 for advise , now on more tablets eg : diazapan X 3 a day , paracetamol , codeine , ibuprofen 400 mg , the question is does RA attack your lower back after 4 day still struggle to get out of bed after taking all these meds is my RA back ?

[medway-lady]

After a couple of weeks I cried with the pain and contacted the NRAS helpline, as dr did not know what was wrong but it was a side effect of the medication which did not affect my back but wrists, jaw, shoulders and elbows and hands. I stuck with as asked too as the MTX was ok but made my hair fall out. After a few days the pains went and I felt much better, after a few months I would not know I have RA except for the little white pill when go to bed. So my advice is talk to your GP as you might have just pulled a muscle or tweaked a disk or it could be the Lefoldomide and hopefully it will go in time.

[caron6056]

Hi, sorry to hear you are suffering, I don't know if RA affects your back, I guess it could, but I have recently been crippled with back pain (amonst other things!) And my GP has referred me back to my rheumatologist as she suspects I also have fibromyalgia, it is probably worth going back to your GP to check there is nothing else going on alongside the RA ( as if that wasn't enough!!) Good luck x

[earthwitch]

Its usually spondyloarthritis (ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, etc) that affects your spine, and the lower back and sacroiliac area is a key point for this. Are you seronegative, as spondy is seronegative. I think if it appears that the back pain is inflammatory (not injury related) then it would be a good idea to let your rheumatologist know about the back pain.