Me and both my Rheumatologist cannot find the best medication for me and in the meantime the arthiritis just progresses. Currently on 25mg of methotrexate which makes me so nauseous, what is everyone else coping with?
I just wish I could be on a normal tablet once a day be able to go out have social drinks and go travelling without the risk of being susceptible to infections/diseases. Its been 3 years now since diagnoses and I'm still only 22yrs old.
Sorry for the rant, one of those days ...
I'm really sorry to hear this - I was diagnosed at 28 and that felt incredibly young to me. It sounds like your RA is not controlled on 25mg/MTX so has your rheumy tried you on any other combination of medication? And has she/he not talked to you about anti- TNFs such as Humira or Enbrel? I would think that if your RA is not controlled by what you are taking and in combination with your age that you would be someone that they would be keen to keep well and active and to stop asap any possible joint damage.
I know that this was the case for me and that my rheumy was very pro-active on keeping me as well as possible and still being able to go to work and live my life etc. I was finally put on Humira after 6 years but it only took so long because I was ready to have a family and so couldn't take anything while trying to get pregnant etc and that took longer than I would have hoped!
I have now been on Humira (with 20mg MTX) for 5 years and it has made a massive difference to me. I do have quite a lot of joint damage from the years when I wasn't treated aggressively so I really hope this doesn't happen to you. Kind regards.
Ive only recently been diagnosed early this year and started off on methotrexate. Had to come off it as i had bad side affects.
Im now on Arava and only side affect is weight lose but am having to increase my dosage to 20mg as 10mg wasnt enough and still had few bad flare ups. Hope the side affects dont increase with dosage increase but i do feel much better on this than methotrexate.
Are you taking the tablets or the injection? If the tablets, then that is a pretty high dose to try and tolerate without nausea, and the injection would be a lot easier to tolerate.
You shouldn't have to put up with bad side effects or drugs that don't work. Ask your rheumatologist why he hasn't offered you anti-tnf drugs like humira or enbrel. They can be absolute miracles for a lot of people, but in the UK it seems like they make us persist for an enormous length of time on other drugs first, which really isn't right, but is clearly being driven by cost issues. If he isn't willing to consider that yet, then ask about having the MTX injection. Most people can't tolerate the tablets when the dose gets up to 25 mg, so I'm not surprised you are suffering with it, but the injection can be a whole lot better.
Yes I agree with all these comments - I'm on injectable MTX and so far I'm not aware of any side effects compared to the pills - and it's so easy once you get used to it. The guidelines recommend that we are put on several dmards at the same time which is meant to have a better outcome so I'm not quite sure why you are only on Methotrexate. 22 is very young and they should be trying harder to get you onto the best drugs possible to prevent damage further down the line. It doesn't sound to me as this is happening yet for you so I strongly advise you to push your consultant to get you onto an anti-tnf or if he or she won't yet then to you should try a combination of dmards at least. Take care please and stay around for support and to moan any time we all understand. Tilda x
I was due to have an appointment with my rheumatology nurse today to start on biologic injections, but i'm going to Asia for a month in November and then Australia to live permanently. So she didn;t want me starting on injection whilst in Asia. She said she would speak to the consultant about starting me on hydroxycholoroquine instead. I just feel like it is progressing very fast while I'm waiting for appointments and decisions ot be made over the 3 years. Thanks for all your help, I think I just need to push my consultant to start me on less methotrexate and give the hydroxycholoroquine combination instead. Laura x
medication, not working
Process of medication
Medication
Starting medication 😬
