What pain meds work best for RA. I

medications work differently for different people, so what may work well for me might not work for you at all and vice versa. However, I can see some general pointers. Step one in controlling your pain is controlling your RA - IU on one of the DMARDs (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs like methotrexate, Paquinil or one of the Biologics)? If not, speak to your rheumatologist about getting treated so you can protect your joints from future damage. If you are on one of the DMARDs and you are experiencing significant pain, it may not be working as well as it should - speak to your rheumatologist about increasing the dose, supplementing with another DMARDs or prednisone or perhaps changing to another medication altogether.

You mentioned you used to be on Lyrica - this medication is usually used for nerve pain and often prescribed for fibromyalgia. Do you have fibromyalgia, as well as RA? If you're looking to treat your RA pain, you may want to look into an anti-inflammatory (Celebrex, naproxen) or speak to your doctor about alternatives to Tramadol. If you have a lot of muscle pain, you can also look at muscle relaxants overnight (e.g., cyclobenzaprine). It's quite likely that you may need to sort of mix and match - e.g. take Celebrex during the day, but cyclobenzaprine overnight. Again, speak to your rheumatologist and you may consider asking for a referral to a pain clinic where they use multidisciplinary approach to treat pain.