Best Arthritic Medication
 

In your experience, what has been the best medication for arthritic pain (prescription and over-the-counter or herbal supplements), including any side effects. Thank you in advance.

If you have osteoarthritis....an anti-inflammatory would help. BUT if you have rheumatoid arthritis you will need to be under a rheumatologist's care!

You probably won't like this answer, but......

After 35 years of prescribing arthritis meds, the best one is simply whatever works for the individual patient. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Newer and more expensive is not necessarily better. The same patient can try a med with no effect, then try its first cousin and have good results. Some patients get a good response from common OTC meds or herbals, many don't. Unfortunately, my wife has had no response to anything I tried.

All meds can have "side effects", but remember these are highly touted but rarely an issue. Side effects range from 2-9% of patients taking a drug, and the more serious side effects are generally < 1/2%. It is the 90+% EFFECT that the drug is prescribed for.

You can go the Arthritis Association website, and find the following treatment guidelines (I assume you are talking about ordinary osteoarthritis)

1) exercise
2) diet
3) Tylenol
4) OTC NSAIDS

only after these first 4 are prescription medications advised.

Sorry, I am just the messenger.

I think that's a great answer! It indicates that the patient has a lot of control. So much better than popping pills. I found that with enough exercise, the need for Tylenol/NSAIDs greatly diminishes and general health improves.

Went to Dr. Ramos for first visit. Dr. had to postpone blood work for 2 more weeks because the steroids that urgi-care prescribed remain in the system. Have to wait until they are gone to get true results. Therefore, husband has not been diagnosed. Don't know if it is osteo or rheumatoid, but he is surely in pain. Almost fell trying to get out of bed this morning. The pain eases slightly as he moves around. This guy was the most active guy I've ever know (not counting true athletes, of course) up until a couple of months ago. Trying to find out beforehand what meds would be best once he gets diagnosed. But like previous poster mentioned, not all works for all. Thank you for your responses.

For me, glucosamine & chondroitin. Also take turmeric, the best anti-inflammatory, without any known side effects. In fact, great for the whole mind and body.

I might add, less than 1 percent of people over 65 in India have dementia or Alzheimer. Curry, from turmeric, is a staple in their diet.

I've had good luck with turmeric/curcumin for joint and neck pain. Not so much for my thumb which I presume is somehow due to 40 years of using a computer for 8-10 hours a day. It did take 3 or 4 days for the curcumin to build up to high enough levels to have an effect. But of course, everyone's different, so think about asking your doctor about it before starting.
--
Bob C

Find the fountain of youth.

Great question. I think if you are genetically predisposed to arthritis, herbal remedies may not work.
If your husband's weaknesses came on suddenly, his doctor will probably be testing for issues other than arthritis.
Best of luck!

Well, this info raises about a hundred questions.
IMO, this is very unlikely to be osteoarthritis, it does not come on this quickly. Too bad you have to wait weeks for answers, your primary care physician most likely would have drawn the appropriate bloodwork before starting steroids, but urgent care centers are more "single encounter' oriented. But just the fact that they started steroids indicates they did not feel it was osteoarthritis either. Did the steroids do anything to help?
This is eerily similar to my wife's situation. We moved here in November, everything was normal, she was playing golf and all other normal activities. Then overnight, on Jan 22, she developed an acute polyarticular polyarthropathy (joint swelling and pain). Her hands were normal the day before I took these photos. In her case we gave her huge steroid doses expected total improvement in 48 hours and got nothing.

Best Arthritic Medication
 

Slowly over the last 6 months.

Best Arthritic Medication
 

He went to urgi-care for pain in his shoulder due to a fall (we thought). That's what the steroids were prescribed for and YES, the steroids helped him overall tremendously !!!

With a 6 month history, it could still be osteoarthritis, although I would expect more localized symptoms. If you don't mind, what was the name of the steroid urgent care gave him?

Topical arnica cream as an anti inflammatory on joints that hurt. Can do no harm and might help. Arnicare at Walmart or Walgreens. I buy CT cream online.


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Best Arthritic Medication
 

It is Medrol Dosepak (methyIPREDNISolone Dose P 4 mg. PO Tab