 [ Symptoms ] should i change my primary doctor if he is not giving me pain medicine for my ra he is 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 [ Disease ] if you feel that you might not have a great relationship with your doctor it is 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 is 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 will not 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 do not 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 will have the peace of mind that you did the right thing