Hi all. I've been in the midst of the diagnosis process for a year now and still no where near an answer. I'm confident my problem is rheumatoid arthritis. I have morning stiffness last several hours (5 hours is my high score!) pain in my shoulders hands right wrist right knee both hips and the bottom of my left foot ( the ball). So I've been trying to control it while doctors play the guessing game. I've tried heat and ice therapy, chiropractic adjustments, topical ointments, hanging my diet to gluten free and trying to eat an anti-inflammatory diet and all to no avail. I stopped taking pain killers so that I don't become dependent on them. I take 400 mg Celebrex a day, 200 in the morning and 200 at night. So the point of the log post (other than back story) is to ask if anyone out there in similar situations have any tips for pain control other than NSAIDs steroids and opioids. I'm not against the drugs but I really would like to limit the use if its possible since this is going away. Thanks for listening.

P.S. If anyone has any info on FMLA ID appreciate some info. I know what to do and understand the process but I don't trust my employer to not try to find another way to get rid of me.

Hi Bigdand,

I didn't see any of your posts until this morning, but I don't read this forum often (and am a little surprised you didn't find/try or no-one referred you to some of the other forums where your symptoms might have rung some bells).

Possibles (from things you've mentioned -- up to you -- you know you best):

Arthritis For both Osteo and Rheumatoid arthritis.
Autoimmune Diseases For Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (underactive thyroid), Graves’ disease (overactive thyroid), Lupus, Crohn's disease, all types of arthritis, and all other autoimmune diseases. [Multiple sclerosis (MS) and Myasthenia Gravis (MG) have their own forums below.]
Chronic Pain Whatever the cause, support for managing long term or intractable pain.
Multiple Sclerosis
Possibly others(?) It may be worth your while perusing the above groups (and/or others), or Searching the archives.

Help me out here -- I'm a little confused. In earlier threads, you said your pain is constant (24/7?) but now it's just morning stiffness(?), and it's going away? If not, what's your current status, and what is going away? I'm trying to get the whole picture.

Has anyone mentioned or referred you to pain management (PM)? PM encompasses most modalities of pain control that I'm aware of with few exceptions.

What I know about FMLA (we were on it prior to retiring) can pretty much be found on the web, but I'm not in your state. FMLA Illinois

Doc

Hello and thanks doc. Sorry I didn't respond quicker, I'm not a big forum person and I've been crazy busy. The morning stiffness I've been having is causing more pain than normal on op of my regular pain. My regular pain is an achy burning pain in my legs shoulder left knee right wrist both hands and both hips. The morning stiffness makes my legs hurt so much more. Standing up and walking becomes incredibly painful and I can't stand in the shower for more than a minute or two. Usually it takes a few hours for that extra pain to die down a bit and I can get going and deal with it. I was seeing a chiropractor 3 days a week for adjustments strength training/rehab and therapies for pain management but I've had to cancel them due to work. I finally got my blood work back (after 18 days!) and I got a couple of positive results. ANA was positive for 1:160 homogenous pattern. I've tested positive for this before but a rheumatologist said it was nothing. I also tested positive for NEURONAL (V-G) K+ CHANNEL AB, S at .18 H when it should be below .02. I don't know what that means other than more tests and mris I'm sure. Sorry for the long post. And thanks again for all the info