AIN and steroids and methotrexate

[AliceDianaB]

I was diagnosed correctly with polymyalgia rheumatica thus the steroids in 2009 and incorrectly with RA thus a couple months in 2012 on methotrexate. AIN was found in 2016 and successfully treated in the states It wasn't until I got to a doc in the UK for annual checkup that I learned that these drugs can allow HPV to flourish and that's one of the causes of AIN. So even though l never tested positive for HPV and neither did my husband it seems that most of us have it and most of us don't know and for most of us it doesn't cause any trouble at all. So my question is this do these drugs also allow other viruses which can cause other kinds of dysplasia and eventually cancer to flourish and if so which ones and which parts of the body?

[helixhelix]

All drugs that interact with your immune system in any way carry risks. The one that is most commonly cited with Methotrexate is lymphoma.

However, there is very mixed research on these risks and, if not already, you also need to be aware that the titles can be quite misleading. They generally talk about relative risks, which are pretty meaningless. So you need to dig down to find the absolute risks. A headline gripping statement that X increases the risk of Y by 50% can boil down to your risk having increased from 1 in 20 million to 2 in 20 million- which doesn't make such a good headline!

[Cheylann]

Yes I'm terrified of MTX. Due to start taking it next month by injection but still not sure about it. What is HPV?

[Gnarli in reply to Cheylann]

Of course you're scared. I suspect most of us using it felt pretty much the same. I was terrified but the improvements it has given me far outweigh the drawbacks and I have a far better quality of life. When I first started it I was in such pain I would have chewed on broken glass if it had helped. Hugs

J

[Cheylann in reply to Gnarli]

Thank u for yr story. It's so encouraging to hear MTX has helped your pain as all I ever read are horror stories about all the terrible side effects. That's why I'm so scared but going to try it.

[oldtimer]

I find it difficult to know what people are talking about when acronyms are used. Looking up AIN there are several choices. Can you tell us which you have?