RA Causing a lot of pain! Any helpful hints?

I'm on 3mg LDN as a backup to my prednisone taper. I was diagnosed with PMR in March and two months later I was diagnosed with SMM and have to do a fast taper from 25mg. I'll be down to 9mg tomorrow. I'm sleeping much better since starting LDN, and even with my fast taper I'm only feeling mild to moderate PMR pain. I'll start kevzara if it gets any worse, but I'm definitely happy with the LDN.

I believe that LDN is helping me tremendously. I have been taking 4.5 mg for 9 months with a major reduction in pain and inflammation, from seronegative RA and erosive osteoarthritis.

I started at 4.5 mg because I had taken LDN previously to treat post_covid and had tolerated it well. The doctor who originally prescribed LDN specialized in integrative health.

As for the evidence base, my husband and I are both medical researchers. LDN is not the type of drug that big pharma wants to research - naltrexone has been in use (for substance abuse) for a long time, it's safety profile is well understood, it's off patent and cheap. So market forces are not aligned for pharma research on LDN. I'm not sure who funds research on novel uses of existing drugs. But, your doctor could wait a very long time for better and more research on LDN. Sad but true.

Maybe find a doctor, in addition to your rheumatologist, who specializes in integrative health? Afterall, LDN is given usually in addition to those prescribed by rheumatologist. You can use the information you get from integrative Medicine for a deeper discussion with your rheumatologist, at least.

Rheumatologist have been my best resources. Still, Push for what you need. Good rheumatologist these days work with their patients to find what works. We are our best advocates. And, most days of the year, we are on our own to deal with these diseases.