The fact that you have an illness like rheumatoid arthritis is more than enough to handle without having to deal with rheumatoid arthritis medication that has all kind of side effects. It is very frustrating and annoying if you have to deal with these kind of medication and have to go to a long and sometimes painful period of trial and error. Some rheumatoid arthritis medication will work in your situation but sometimes the side effect are worse than the drugs you need to take. There is so much we do not know about this disease that finding the right treatment can take a long time.
There are a series of prescription rheumatoid arthritis medication that doctors and rheumatologist usually prescribe and in this article we will go over a few of of them.
Analgesics painkillers
From this family of painkillers just one, acetaminophen, can be purchased over the counter, the rest of the family needs a prescription. These kind of drugs are stolen on a regularly basis from pharmacies and even hospitals. They have well known names like Oxycodone, Tramadol, Tylenol with codeine and Percoset. All of these drugs can have severe side effects that can range from a blurred vision to even death.
Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
The fear of every arthritis sufferer is that they are going to need a prescription of this kind of rheumatoid arthritis medication, it is almost never prescribed alone, but almost always in combination with drugs like analgesics. Over the counter are NSAIDs like ibuprofen, naxoproxen and aspirin available and with a prescription you can get Celebrex and Vioxx
Steroids: Glucocorticoids
It is getting harder to pronounce but Glucocorticoids are also known as corticoids, they contain steroids and the most known names in this family are Prednisone, hydrocortisone and cortisone. You can get a little high from these drugs and that is why these medicines are also often the target of pharmacy theft. These medicines can be very expensive what makes the theft more lucrative. These kind of rheumatoid arthritis medication can have very severe side effects and this is why it is very important that you follow the directions very carefully.
Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)
According to the latest theory rheumatoid arthritis is a disease of the immune system, something alternative medicine like homeopaths are saying for years. DMARDs are drugs that go right to the immune system and will try to reboot this system. Unlike with homeopathic medicine DMARDs are certainly not natural and harmless. They are sort of a last resort in prescription drugs, if noting helps and you are in terrible pain you get DMARDs. Because this drugs mess with the immune system, the complications can be so severe that you need to be in a reasonable condition except from your rheumatoid arthritis to be able to handle DMARDs.
Regular or alternative rheumatoid arthritis medication?
As you see all of these regular rheumatoid arthritis medication have, sometimes severe, side effects and down sides to them, and lets be honest so do natural or alternative medications. But it might be worth it if you need to go on trial and error anyway to include some alternative treatments to the test. It might postpone the need for the above prescription drugs and even replace them completely.
Jonathan Mitchell knows from personal experience what it means to wake up with pain. Telling the world about arthritis and the things you can't and can do with it is the reason his blog exists at http://www.myrigidbody.com
Click here for more articles from ZingArticles.com