Any Ideas what to so when my joints hurt so bad I can't move

I go to a heated swimming pool, and for a start move around very gently for a start stretching and moving all my joints, and then have built that up to an hour 3 times a week.

I try to do three lots of stretches and moving resistance against the weight of the water, during that time frame of an hour.

I do feel better for it afterwards.

Has your rheumo told you to take fish oil, that also helps me. I take 6000mg a day or 6 x 1000mg odourless capsules 2 with each meal, that works best for me.

Also, and rheumo says this will make no difference at all, but for me it works, no wheat at all, after about 4 days I notice the difference, very diffucult as everything has wheat in it, or almost everything, you really have to watch labels.

Hope this some help, ask any questions you want, there are alot of us out here.

Diet didn't help me that much thus far, but no dairy products and reduced carbo seems to help many others, so I am on it. I am taking off tomatoes this week -turns out that these can trigger inflammation and I basically “live” on fresh salads (with tomatoes)... At least, if you are into researching, there is A LOT to research and you are your best lab mouse :-(

Rest helps sometimes. So rest and figure out what works for you, let it be a diet, a right med or maybe walking/running 5 miles every day - at my best I walked 5-6 miles every day and then after a really bad flare up, I switched to 3 TRX classes a week + 5 daily walks and I didn’t feel nearly as bad I feel in the past months, ever since I stopped working out completely because of the pain.. Yesterday, with all the pain, I made a decision to walk 2 miles (only) at least 3 times a week, let’s see how this works out… Exercising triggers some natural painkillers... I am taking 1200 vitamin C daily and I just read that vitamin C is great for RA but bad for some other forms of arthritis… Try and error.

And it's doing nothing to your personality that would not do the same for anyone else in the same situation. You will get used to it until it won't bother you. Try to find something to occupy yourself with while in pain. Deadline and targets work well as painkillers too.

i agree about exercise. When I was very bad that meant doing exercises the rheumy physio gave me to open and close fingers, move knee etc. Ie moving all affected joints but avoiding strain( like lifting heavy objects- carrying bags) I had difficulty getting in and out of shower, even turning it on but heat from shower did help. Yes- and kept paracetamol in my system every 4 hours which may have helped a little. But i know how tough it is for you.

Now meds are working I swim twice a week ( in a warm pool) and line dance. For the last year went to hydrotherapy run by local Arthritis matters group which has helped.

hang on in there. It will get better

Pain is so distressing and I find these diseases put me further away from family n friends as I can't do things I used to and that includes working n driving so I agree it does change you.

I hope you find some comfort and a medication that helps you

For what it's worth, here's my take on things....

A year or so ago I stopped all my RA  meds and went cold turkey. Lasted 9 months before I had to start taking DMARDs again. For the last 3 months the debilitating pain got so bad that I became housebound. My wife had to help me wash, dress, shower, cut up my food, could bearly walk from room to room etc.etc.etc. To be blunt I was in a hell of a mess, so believe me when I say that  I'm well experienced with what it's like having to live with constant and ocassionally excruciating pain. 

The only thing that gave me at least some relief was getting on a regular pain killer regime, combined with rest. It was only then that I found things like heat pads, which were previously useless, would also help little. That said, all of the stuff I took or did are nowhere near as effective as proper RA meds, and eventually I could no longer tolerate the terrible debilitating pain so had to start DMARDs again.

The pain killers I used were slow release tramadol taken together with paracetomol. I was also taking regular doses of naproxen. 

  It might be a good idea to pay a visit to your GP to see what he/she has to say. Maybe he could start you on a type of pain relief regime until your RA meds kick in. Better still, and as mentioned by a previous poster - how about a steroid injection as these can work wonders for many people. I would have cut my right index finger off for one at the time, but alas I can no loger have one due to serious complications they can cause.

Good luck and hope you get sorted soon

I don't have RA but I have something (not sure what- possibly PMR)- that causes inflammation in my lungs, making it very difficult to breathe.  I don't wheeze, don't cough, my lungs sound clear, but I still have serious problems breathing.  It is weird.  I was put on oxygen at one point.  Anyway, I decided to try statins, 40 mg atorvastatin as in the trials, and they have helped my breathing quite a bit.  I also take prednisone 11 mg.  They hypothesize that the reason statins reduce heart disease is that they are so anti-inflammatory.

There are many things you can do:

A TENS machine deals very effectively with localized pain.

There's another little machine whose name eludes me, but if you search it you an get it in the UK. It relieves pain locally too.

A bigger machine called IFT (stands for interferiental therapy) you'll find at the hopsital that also works locally on pain by emitting tiny electric pulses. Saved my life!

An ointment called DMSO (I don't know where you by it in the UK) is a localized gel that has surprising pain-relieving effects in specific joints.

Ordinary painkillers: paracetamol,  etc

High dosage turmeric supplements is known to help inflammation

Also try asking the question on the 'Alternative' thread of this forum. They usually come up all kinds of unexpected ideas.

What meds are you on? Prednisolone should work pretty quickly if things are that bad.

As for your 'personality'... mindfulness meditation should help you chill out. In the long run real meditation will help with the pain too...

All the best!