How well the meds work seems to be based on the person. I started with Otezalla, then Enbrel, Cosentyx, Humaria, Taltz, Temfya ,and now Rinvoq. This has been over 10 years. My doc says if they are not working in 9 to 12 months, they are not going to work. None did anything amazing. I am not saying they do not work! It just depends. My doc told me a few months ago I was going to be one of the people that the biologics wouldn't work wonders (aka Phil Mickel;son), they would only hold it off hopefully.

I can't take MTX, NSAIDS, or even Tylenol due to low liver and kidney numbers. So, there is little I can take for inflammation other than steroids. Talk to your doc about MTX and steroids.

I am a big guy. 6'5" 300#. When I hurt, there is a lot of me to hurt! Opioids are a scary thing. Opioid addiction can be the result of personality types...maybe. There are several things to worry about if you start opioids. #1 - Self-control. If the opioids help with the pain, can you tell yourself more is not better? I lost a nephew to opioids. He started on them due to pain. However, he had dealt with severe depression most of his life. The opioids gave him an escape from the depression, so for him, he thought more was better. I tried my best to help him because severe depression runs in our family. I have dealt with it my entire life. If I had had access to opioids during the depths of it...I may have gone that route also.

I know that opioid use can turn to addiction based on something of this nature. That is why I say self-control. But I know from experience if something could have alleviated my depression, I may have done the same, My depression is now under control. My four doctors told me I had to go into pain management because my quality of life was deteriorating from the pain.

I say all this for one reason. DON'T SUFFER! If some type of pain med can give you a better quality of life, try it. If you feel pain meds could be a problem if you start them, explain that to your doctor. Also, enlist someone at home to help. Give them the pain meds if you need to. A good pain management clinic is as hard to find as a good rhuemy. In my state the opioid police are ridiculous! Since a former president and too many politicians think they know more about the body and chronic pain than doctors do, we are now stuck where we are at. I have embarrassed more than a handful of local politicians when they wanted to discuss why we needed so much legislation for pain meds.

DON'T SUFFER! But you know your mind and body the best.

Hi, I recommend doing yoga, and start as slow as you need, I started 3 years ago, when I was losing my mobility, couldn't do almost nothing yoga related, and I lived in constant pain, now I'm still only doing hata yoga, same videos, but now I can do the poses much better, If I don't do yoga for 5 days my body needs it bad, all that stretching ( I try to work the whole body in a week) helps me feel so much better, I rarely take pain meds, and instead I'm drinking antiinflammatories teas, and I'm only in 3 Sulfasalazine pills daily , I'm 57 years old. And now I can stand up in my tiptoes, I wasn't able to do that, it took a while to be able to sit on the floor with out pain, now I can get up with out too much help, still I have to hold on to something. I had to retire early because the pain was so bad, and I decided to take better care of myself, because before I was too exhausted to do it. I think that's helping me. I haven't tried other drugs, because it worries me all those side effects, I'm trying to improve my health with herbs and relaxation, and healthier eating, good luck, and may God bless you all with health.

Good question @A MyPsoriasisTeam Member I am intrigued to see what comes back! I was on a number of opioids that I didn't feel worked and the only thing that felt like I got some relief was when I started taking 90mg of arcoxia (etoricoxib) daily. This is a strong anti inflammatory. I take it at night and it reduces the swelling and I feel less stiff in the mornings. I feel better on that than my DEMARD- sulfasalzine. I am not yet on biologic's as I have a few more drugs to get through before the rheumatologist will prescribe them-my next addition is hydroxychloroquine but I think that's more for pain. So it would be good to hear what comes up from the team.

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A MyPsori...

I have been on so many different drugs but Embral works 1&1/2 years. Most of the biological drugs work about 1&1/2 years but Humira did not do any you yourself have to try different ones before you will find one that works for you! Everyone is different every Psoriasis is different . Mine was everywhere on my muscles parts and warm parts butt, stomach waist head calf thighs. Some only have it on their face hands and feet we are all different. Good luck

Hi there
Just joined today. I have been taking Simponi and Arava for 4 months now. It had no great improvement until the third month. I don't take pain meds or prednisone anymore. My pain now is about a 3 when active and a 2 when I'm resting. They say the true benefit of Simponi is at 6 months.
One side effect for me was hair loss. I have lost a lot of hair at the three month mark. My Rhumy says it's not the biologics and my fam dr says hogwash. But if I have to wear a wig to be well so be it.
Hope that's helpful to you. Oh and my psoriasis is in one ear canal and it's constantly flaring unless I'm on prednisone which I hope to never take again.
Cheers