Hi everyone, I've just been diagnosed with RA and my doc. laid out the basic Dmard plan - I am supposed to start on methotrexate and eventually add sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine. However, I have been hearing quite a lot from various sources to forget the drugs and focus on diet, excercise and stress mitigation.
While I hate drugs, and do believe in the mind-body connection, I am unsure if it is irresponsible to forget/postpone the drugs. I almost died of C1-C2 instability a few months ago (due to RA) and recently, my knees became pretty bad as well.
Any advice is appreciated. Did anyone find diet to be extremely helpful? is this nightshade vegetable idea serious? I'm not interested in just putting on a bandaid... on the other hand I am not hearing good things about these meds. Are the side effects as bad as they sound? my level of pain is totally manageable - my primary reason for taking meds would be to make sure it doesn't get more serious...
has anyone here gone on enbrel without trying Dmards? would you recommend it?
What else can I do? (the only thing I am doing currently is naproxen and swimming)
I'm just utterly befuddled - and way too young. my symptoms started at 16 - but im twenty now - so im borderline juvie
Thanks for your thoughts!
Noa
I started on metho and HTX. It was terrible. I was on pills then injections. Methotrexate is a chemo drug and it really messed with my body. I was also on Vimovo. I felt very sick the day after. I never used to take even Tylenol for a headache and suddenly I was on cancer drugs. Do your research and don't let anyone put you on something you're not comfortable with. I'm 31 by the way and had no other health issues before RA.