Rheumatoid arthritis causes joint swelling, stiffness, especially in the mornings, and pain rather than tender points between the joints. Fibromyalgia does cause tenderness in many areas but often the joints can hurt as well and fibromyalgia is also associated with sleep disturbance and fatigue. Som...

The best way to take pain medicine is before the pain actually starts as once pain has become severe, it can be very difficult to control. If you know that you will be having a busy day then it is sensible to think ahead and take your pain medicines in advance, although as you mention it can be hard...

Hello Christine, The worry is that you are taking so much medication, including 2 forms of codeine (in both codeine, obviously and cocodamol) which means that it is probably not working very well. If your pain medicines are working and helping improve your quality of life then it is fine to continue...

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles and that you feel that doctors are not listening seriously to your problems. GPs unfortunately have very little time during a consultation and are sometimes forced to focus on what they feel is the most serious potential problem and sometimes that can lead to commu...

Hello, it really depends on the type of injections that you are having and who is doing the injections. Common injections for spinal pain include caudal epidurals and facet joint injections. A caudal epidural involves injecting local anaesthetic plus usually a small amount of steroid medicine, low d...

Hello, Yes, it most definitely is possible to have rheumatoid arthritis with completely normal blood tests, especially if it is the small joints that are affected. If you have swelling of any joints, especially the small joints of the hands or feet, and stiffness in the joints that is worse in the m...

Pain, whilst unpleasant, can be a very useful sensation to have. Short term (acute) pain helps us to avoid injury and is part of the natural healing process. Usually after the harm has healed, this pain goes away, and we can get on with our lives. However, in some circumstances, pain may persist (ch...

Rheumatoid arthritis can affect people of any age including very young children and it is a condition where the immune system which usually protects us from infections starts to attack the joints causing pain, stiffness and swelling. To find out more about the condition and how to manage it, visit: ...

Find out more about Gout and how to manage it at: https://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/livi ... itis/gout/

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Matthew Rogers | Director of Therapies

Hello, There is no good evidence that herbs or extracts can help with the pain and inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis. Some herbal remedies, especially Chinese medicines have actually been shown to contain other prescription medicines including corticosteroids (steroids) and many poisons are der...