My girl just turned 30 a week ago, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was two. She hasn't worked for ten years due to being unable to walk far or sit in a chair she basically has to lay down all day. She has tried every pain medication possible and has just been taken off the last available treatment for RA because once again it didn't work and so the hospital has said I'm sorry you have had every treatment possible there's nothing more we can do for you. They won't offer her knee replacements because she is too young and will need them replaced every ten years which obviously costs money.
It is all over her body now as we found out it is now in her spine which was the only place she didn't have it.
The pain is killing her, morphine has no effect nor does tramadol or any pain relief, it seems everything she tries her body rejects.
She is currently having to wear a heart monitor because they now think her arteries are hardening due to the RA, her symptoms are tachycardia and palpations.
She has been on Ampatriptaline for five years and naproxen for even longer and I am a nurse myself and I know these symptoms can be common side effects of long term use of these medications. I would just be eternally grateful if anyone who has been on long term use of these two medications for pain could tell me a little bit about your experiences and if you had to come off them due to these side effects also if you have any advice on any treatments for her that would improve her quality of life, the nhs have told us they cannot help her anymore.
Etenercept was the only treatment that mildly worked for her
We are at our wits end, I too suffer health problems but she needs every ounce of my strength which I will continue to give.
Thank you x