HIPS AND PAIN

I haven't had a bad bout of pain for a while now.  I mean a bad bout of pain.  One where I find it hard to do every day things.  Of course I had my most recent accident and I had pain then but that didn't count because that was "accident" pain not RA pain.

I am having horrible pain in my hips.  It started like a little twinge in one hip but now it is in both hips and it is hard for me to walk or go up and down stairs.  The stairs especially are excruciating.  Even sitting is starting to hurt.

I have not been on any RA drugs but Prednisone for more than three years now ever since I had meningitis and had to stop taking Enbrel.  I have been trying to get on a different drug for probably 6 months now.  My new RA doctor is less than aggressive when it comes to insurance companies and gets annoyed when I get involved. 

Since I got the kid, I have been unable to spend much time doing follow up on whether the doctor is doing his job dealing with the insurance company.  Now I am having a flare and I am only taking Prednisone.  I have a strict personal policy that I will not increase the prednisone even for a short time because it took me SO long to decrease to the 4.5 mg that I am taking now.  I will not go through the decreasing process again if I can at all help it. 

I think tomorrow I will take a long, hot bath. 

Until tomorrow...