Hi all
I have been in awful pain all night with my hands,shoulders😢
I've taken it upon myself to start a steroid course to take the inflammation down,so I get some relief.
My dmards won't begin to work as I have only just started taking them.
I can't stand this awful pain..is there anything else I can do?
Thank you.
Dawn
heat pads or ice work pretty well. Obviously, paracetamol and you could ask for a stronger painkiller too. You say you've started a steroid course I think that only a doctor should prescribe this so hopefully, they'll begin to work shortly.
Thank you Medway-lady.
The steroids are from my gp,they are my rescue pack for my copd.I was told last time I had an RA flare that it would be ok to take them in future.
They are working already.😊Great relief.
I also take naproxen.
But tbh nothing works like steroids.
Take care.
X
It's a lottery I had 650 mg of steroid by injection in the hospital over 3 weeks a couple of months ago; it made no difference but in the past just 120mg has. No one knows I think how these things work in some instances. I use something called Zapain on the odd occasion that works well too but it is only to be used sparingly my GP said although he gave me 100 pills.
I hope your feeling better soon. x
Please try cbd oil . I had horrendous flare up whilst I was away and took some steroids to calm it when the flare was still going strong day 4. Steroids worked well but as you know with horrible side effects .
I am on day 4 of trying cbd oils and I actually can't believe how much it has helped . I am down to 0 mg steroids , minimal pain and feel lighter and brighter!!
I had quite a high dose of cbd oil to begin with as I was so desperate for pain to go but now on maintenance dose and it appears ( touch wood!!) to be working well...... I wake up without pain - that's priceless 😀
I seem to get hand and shoulder pain more than elsewhere too at the moment. Although I understand there is inflammation, I find exercising the joints gives marvellous pain relief. Clenching fists as much as I can, then unclenching, stretching the fingers and thumbs quite vigorously for about two minutes or so. Shoulders: some really good shoulder exercises in Michelle Rubin's "Yoga for Seniors" (gently now she goes hellishly fast!) works well too.
youtube.com/watch?v=lfwsGu6...
"Yoga for Seniors" (gently now she goes hellishly fast!) works well too".
I had to smile at this. When I was recovering from knee surgery last year a friend thoughtfully gave me a DVD of chair-based exercise: Billy Blank's Tae Bo Low Impact Chair Workout (it's on YouTube as well).
It's hilarious! I think my friend thought it would be something more like Chair-A-Cise but it is very fast in places and even called for you to step up onto and stand on the chair. 
Fantasy3 , are you someone for whom ice or heat works?
I'm seriously considering whether carrying out some of my daily mobility exercises would be easier in a sauna. I'm thinking of an infrared one for various reasons. As I don't really have the space, I'm even considering setting up some infrared heat lamps in a small space and then exercising there in the hope that the heat makes it less painful without making the ligaments so lax that I'm more likely to sublux something (I'm hypermobile so it's ludicrously easy for this to happen).
Really down
feeling down.
feeling down 
feeling very down
Feeling great!
