Question
hi , sorry its me again, i asked a question the other day and i left out the 1 vital piece of info, i have scleroderma morphea,20 yrs plus, as i said i was fine for years,myslef i dont think its straight forward as that, my symptoms have changed so much, as i said i have atrophic rings round my arms and legs which burn, n tingle allmost bubbly,dips in my skin where the bone underneath feels allmost broken,  and the pain is horific, i take lots of medds, dihydracodeine, narproxen, butrans patches oramorph and amitriptyline and a few more these are mostly my pain meds, i have been doing the doctor, hospital, dermy, rheumy, for the last 5 yrs since as i previously mentioned my arthoscopy , knee keyhole, and i am getting nowhere! lots of promises on help and oh yes this is very intersting we will follow this up, all for nothing,my muscles are so weak everything is a real effort, and i have had several bad falls, my legs just go! and the stairs are a complete nightmare,  to be honest i know there are no stronger pain meds that i can take, but i don`t know how much more i can cope with, thanks again alison,

Answer
Alison, scleroderma is such a frustrating diagnosis, not just for us but for our doctors.  It's so challenging for us just to live day-to-day and our docs want nothing more than to fix it for us. It's complicated and no patient responds the same way to treatment as another, so every time it's a struggle to find the right "fit" of treatment and relief.

I don't know where you are but another option would be to see a scleroderma specialist. While our local rheumatologists have treated a handful of people with scleroderma, specialists have treated hundreds or even thousands and often do research on it. In the US it usually involves travel, and sometimes it can be "out-of-network" for our insurance. You can find a list for the US here: http://www.scleroderma.org/medical/centers.shtm

I hope this is an option for you. I think it could be a great help.