VERY cool topical pain med...has changed my life!

Hello Kim, I am new to this as well... I sure am glad i found this site though. You said that your ody burns. Where if you dont mind do you feel this. I was diagnosed with Hughes syndrome or Antiphospholipid Syndrome and I suffer from severe lower back pain when I stand or walk for lond periods of time, for some reason, expecially when I sweep with the broom, it is escrushiating(not spelled right I know). I also burn real bad in my knees, sometime enough to keep my up at night and I cant do anything to help the ain, The pain then radiates down my shin's and lately has been bad.  I also suffer from sever foot pain. It feels as though it is in the skeletal parts, like ..how do I explain this.. Like it is cramped up and burns, and I limp on it when I first get up, but then if calms itself and I only feel slight pain untill I sit on my foot weird, or step on it.  I get migrains so often and cant stand it anymore. I do not have any doc except for a basic adult health doc. and everyone here seems to have a Rhumie.  Do you sufer from any of this and if so, maybe you could let me know what other symptoms you have.  How were you diagnosed with lupis and what were your symptoms that made them check you. I know alot of questions, but I really need to start researching this stuff so i can get the right care.  It doesnt help that i am overweight, and dont know how to change that as well. I am sure each problem compounds the other problem. I am so tired..... of all this uncertainty/. I dont even know where to go from here. I jus want to loose this weight, and be able to runaround with my babies without needing to catch my breath or be in pain..God Help me...

I know Kim...it does not seem to make sense. But things in the blood stream can affect the protective lining of the stomach and other organs. I understood it when my docs explained it to me but I cannot explain it right. Someone posted on the main site (I think) just the other day and explained it perfectly. What a coquinkadink! LOL  As a matter of fact my Rheumy and WL doc are butting heads over, if I have a big flare, if it is Okay to do IV steroids. No more knee or hip injections. But if my kidneys give me a fit there is no more butting heads...doc said they would take the chance. Isn't it amazing how different docs are. I was just thinking there had to be a better way other than being "jacked up" on narcotics all the time. I did a lot over the weekend and am paying for it today so I will just put on some patches and deal with it.

 I take plaquenil for lupus - still take it.  Although my lupus has greatly improved, if I stop taking that, my joints start swelling (esp hands /knuckles and knees) and I really hurt.   
My worst pain now is my back - I have osteoarthritis in my back, and I'm sure the weight has not helped.  I look forward to the weight loss relieving some of that.

I could not live on narcotics.  That would be beyond my ability to tolerate, I think.