Questions about Ra and psoriasis

[Penny66]

Hi, my name is Penny 66. I took my first dose of MTX on 7/5/16, 4 pills. I now have double ear infections which I take steriod and antibiotic ear drops for. I don't know if this is from the methotrexate or it's just a coincidence. I haven't had an ear infection since it was little. Can anyone give me some insight to this?

[Hidden]

Hi there,

so do you have active psoriasis? I suppose that would always make me wonder whether the RA could be Psoriatic Arthritis, but perhaps that's a question for another day!

Anyway, since getting psoriasis in my ears I've had a few outer ear infections even though the psoriasis isn't too bad in my ears & therefore I've not done a lot of scratching, if any. I guess the build up of skin cells just captures bacteria or something, even if the rash is minimal.

[Penny66 in reply to Hidden]

Yes I have active psoriasis. My rheumatologist ssid thst it's active psoriasis and ra I have it on my hands and in the arches if my feet. It drives me crazy. Anyway I have only taken one dose of mtx with the plaquenil, gabopentin, and folic acid. The mtx made me feel nausea and down right ucky!

[helixhelix]

I guess you might be from the U.S.? I read 7/5/16 to mean 7th May but if you've only a taken one dose I guess you mean 5th July?

Anyway, if you've only taken one dose of 10mg is is most likely to be a coincidence, or as a result of having active RA/PsA. MTX can be a magic drug, but takes weeks to do anything. I felt awful on it for the first 9 weeks or so, but then nausea etc wore off and it was ok. Still doing fine 6 years later. So hope it works as well for you.

[nomoreheels]

Hiya Penny. I think that only 2 days after your first dose is pretty quick work for MTX to have any effect so it's unlikely. It takes a while to build up in your system so maybe looking to place blame & MTX being your newest med is where it's landed? It's understandable, it does get bad press but it can be an effective med, I've been taking it 7 years & doing quite well. I would think it's more likely you were harbouring an infection prior to your first dose & it's just coming out now as earache.

I hope the steroid & ear drops clear your infection & you react well to MTX, stick with it & you should start to see improvements.

[Penny66 in reply to nomoreheels]

Thank you... I will stick with the methotrexate .