All I know from personal experience is that NSAIDs did make a huge difference to my daily function and pain. I believe a lot of my pain comes from inflammation, and hitting that with antiinflammatory meds worked. The only reason I stopped taking them was the usual stomach problems, but I didn't give up easily - I did try a number of different NSAIDs (5 or 6 in total) before I called it a day. Personally I'd rather be on antitnfs than anything else for this disease, but I'm not eligible for them in the UK. In a lot of places you have to exhaust NSAIDs before you can jump to antitnfs, and in the UK at least, that protocol is backed by evidence based recommendations. They wouldn't be doing that if there wasn't some evidence that NSAIDs are useful first line treatment.
Talk to your rheumie. Ask what other options there are. Ask about potential side effects of all the options as well as potential benefits. People on this group (including me) will always put forward their own personal views, but it comes down to what you feel comfortable with, based on what your clinicians are advising, not what other folk are saying.
