u/GeologistLive6059

Please let me know your experience with this medication. My rheumatologist prescribed Cymbalta to me for generalized pain since my RA is under control (confirmed with ultrasounds) but all I hear are horror stories about this med and how it’s impossible to get off of. She says I don’t have to take it if I’m uncomfortable but I am miserable.

ETA: thank you everyone who has shared your experience. It really means a lot that I can come on here and talk to others who are dealing with the same thing as me. ❤️

So let me get this straight- Kristina doesn’t like Katie because she got drunk and talked too much about a guy in Italy, and Taylor doesn’t like Katie because she talked too much about vitamins? Are we serious? Clearly these women are threatened by her presence.

I have just hit 12 doses of Enbrel and 7 of MTX. I still feel like crap. Things have definitely improved from my diagnosis and starting meds but I am still having a really hard time with fatigue/malaise and some joint pain (fingers and knees). I have been backing off my prednisone for a few weeks, down to 7.5mg from 40. I know these things take time but I have been off work for two months trying to get better and am not feeling like I am improving enough. I am starting to get really depressed and am worried I am going to hit the end of my short term disability and be forced back to work when I still feel bad and things will get worse. I just don’t know what to do. I see my rheumatologist in two weeks, I don’t know if I should try to see her before then or try and wait.

I have been on 40 mg of prednisone from the middle of March to about two weeks ago. I have been trying to taper off of it because it is making me miserable and I am so tired of looking like a full moon and still feeling like crap. I dropped to 20 two weeks ago and ten a week ago. I feel atrocious, like the flu every day (since before I tapered). I have been on Enbrel for seven weeks (insurance wouldn’t approve it but I was able to get it anyway) and just started MTX two weeks ago, third dose due tonight.

Should I keep dropping off the prednisone even though I feel like crap? I didn’t feel a significant difference between 20 and 10 mg, and the 40 wasn’t even doing what it had done when I first started. Also, how long does it take for MTX to work? And Enbrel? I know they say three months but I am so nervous the Enbrel isn’t going to work for me since it’s been almost two months and I am still a mess.

ETA: adverse symptoms of prednisone that have gotten worse since March- inability to sleep, dry skin and eyes, facial hair growth (peach fuzz for days), and my mood is either super apathetic or irritated, and I can’t cry anymore even though I feel like I need to.

My knees have been flared up for two days. I wake up screaming in pain. I have tried Voltaren, biofreeze, heat, cold, lidocaine, you name it. I have had to use a walker the past two days to get around my house. I felt like they’re getting better but now they’re going back to the way they were. Should I get a cortisone shot in my knees or try and ride it out? I am on 40mg of Pred right now. I have had a cortisone shot in my foot before and it was horrible pain, and with my knee getting behind my kneecap I can’t even imagine the pain. Just not sure if I should ride it out or get the shot and if you have gotten a shot in your knees, how bad is it?

Looking for a spot to get some specialty chocolates and caramels. Preferably open today, trying to get them for teacher appreciation this week! NKY or Cincy area.

My flare is just continually getting worse, even with 40 mg of pred and starting HCQ. My biggest problem right now outside of the joint pain is my limbs feeling like they’re filled with lead. It is so hard to get going, get the strength to get out of a chair or lift my arms. I walk so slow now. Is there any advice on how to help this/ get myself going easier? I’m a project manager/engineer so my work is a lot at my desk but it can be physical walking around the site for projects.