I was diagnosed with RA last year and had horrible knee, jaw and wrist problems. The blood in my veins felt like it was carbonated. Most of that is now gone. Apparently RA comes and goes in waves. It gets better and worse. I am a little worse this past week but I have been better since spring.

I take 2 store brand Excedrin and 2 store brand ibuprofen every four hours all day till I go to bed.

The Ibuprofen helps eliminate the swelling of the joints. ALL MY SWELLING HAS GONE.
I still have some pain, but it is much more tolerable. I am NOT on any prescriptions as I have major side effects.
My left knee was larger than my upper thigh when I started and the Dr prescribed a hinged knee brace for the bad knee and it got better immediately. All swelling and pain has been gone from it for a year. I haven’t worn it in at least 10 months. Once the knees cleared up the wrists were next.

I do occasionally (as needed) wear a pair of elastic wrist gloves with wrist wraps from Walmart. The are similar to wheelchair gloves.
Prior to those I wore full wrist supports most of the time . Strangely, gentle wrist rotation in the am when they are worst works. Keeping them over my head when they are really bad helps a lot. When the blood drains out of my hands the pain goes away. Go Figure…

The amount of water she is drinking isn’t a lot at all. We drink about 100 oz every day. Your body needs plenty of hydration. Plenty of water helps flush out those poisons we aquire through illness and pesticides in our foods.

Two other things I have done, whether they have helped or not I only know I am better.

I stopped wheat and began taking cranberry concentrate (8 oz unsweetened in 1 gal. water)
I drink 6 or 8 oz before all three meals daily and between the meals. It will make you "peep" like crazy. But you will lose swelling and bloat from your inflammation. Use a straw it goes down better. It is excellent for your kidneys and flushes the poisons out of your system. The cranberry concentrate comes from the health food store. The cranberry comes from and book called "The Fat Flush Plan""

I sympathize with all my heart. I do hope maybe this will give you a little support and maybe something that will help you. I definately understand the "whimpering" I too whimper when it’s at its worst…

Good luck and God Bless!!!