if you feel that you might not have a great relationship with your doctor it's worth getting a second opinion. you should never hesitate to do so if you feel that you may not be getting the best care for you. with rheumatoid arthritis it's important to keep in mind that treatment can take time before you see a big improvement -- weeks to months sometimes. but aggressive treatment is absolutely necessary to calm the inflammation and pain and help prevent disability from ra. some doctors are hesitant about prescribing narcotics because they can be addictive (note that narcotics are only for pain and won't help the inflammation that can be so damaging with ra). however studies show that the risk of addiction in someone who is in pain is quite low particularly if they don't have a history of problems with narcotics. so yes get another opinion. even if the second doctor agrees with holding off on narcotics for now you'll have the peace of mind that you did the right thing.
should i change my primary doctor if he is not giving me pain medicine for my ra? he's not helping & always says no! . my mother was diagnosed with ra in late july and since then she has been treated with prednisone & methotrexate. no improvements. the prednisone was at 60 mg and was then lowered to 10. her primary doctor does not want to prescribe her any other pain medication besides tramadol but it doesnt help. we have been to the arthritis. org website & we have found that her primary doctor could prescribe her narcotics but he refuses too. what can she do? should she change her doctor to get better treatment?