Paulin,
I do not believe that taking pain medication makes out Lupus worse, however, the longer you take pain medications, the greater chance you have to building up a tolerance to pain meds.
I started out this dance on Darvocet N100 and it seems to work great for me, however, because I am on blood thinners, no more Darvocet. I was moved to Lortab 5/500, then Lortab 7.5/500 and now I am up to Lortab 10/500. I can usually get by without strong pain meds thru the day and can rely on Tylenol, however, night time is a different story. By the end of the day, I am experiencing alot of pain and cannot sleep, so I have to take a Lortab. I will say that there have a been a few nights, although rare, that I can get thru the night without pain meds.
I wish that I didn't have to take the pain meds, as I imagine is everyone elses thought, but as long as we deal with this dread disease, it will be an unfortunate additive to our lives.
Nancy