Rituximab and sunbathing

[optomistic]

I am off on holiday in three weeks time. (hoping i'll be well enough to make it) Does anyone know if sunbathing is safe as im on Rituximab and just started on 5mg of methotrexate weekly. Been on rituximab now for nearly 8 weeks but doesnt seem to be doing much!!!!!!!! Had a cervical spine MRI scan done 10 days ago but no results yet!!! Neck is very sore with pain shooting up all over head when i move. Is anyone else getting this head pain? Everything i read is pain from neck affecting shoulders and arms!!

[watson3]

Hi I also like you get head pain. May be from shoulder,but I feel the pain in various parts of my skull.

You can sunbathe but will need a high protection sunn cream because of. The Metho.

Have a good holiday.

Carole

[Paula-C]

I'm on MTX and haven't had a problem being out in the sun, but I am not one to sit and sun bathe anyway. Just be sensible and slap alot of factor 50 on and if you think you are burning get in the shade for a while.

I have problems with pain in my head. Pleased to read that it is not just me. I think mine is because I have problems getting my head and shoulders comfortable at night when in bed. I have got a variety of pillows and keep swapping them over, sometimes in the middle of the night. I know it's related to how my RA is behaving, it's bad at the moment and I have trouble getting comfortable. I would describe my pains as shooting pains going up the back of my skull when I try to raise my head off the pillow or sometimes when sitting and trying to get up. My scalp hurts as well, not to touch it but you know when you move your forehead up and down your scalp will move, well it's sore. I've never mentioned this before to anyone at my hospital, I thought it was only me that had this because I've never read on any other forum anyone experiencing it. I don't know about anyone else, but I hate sitting there at hospital appointments giving them a long list of where it hurts. I feel like a hypochondriac.

Drugs sometimes take up to twelve weeks to work, so hang on in there. Enjoy your holiday!!!!

Paula

[optomistic in reply to Paula-C]

Hi paula,( I DONT WANT TO WISH EXTRA PAIN ON ANYONE. HEAVEN KNOWS WE HAVE ENOUGH) but its good to know someone else understands how we.re feeling, and we aren't alone.I understand how you feel about giving a list of where we're hurting, but i think its a good thing to let them know exactly how we're feeling. My head hurts so much i cant turn in bed nor lift my head off the pillow!! It was by letting my rheumatologist know exactly how much pain i had that i got the MRI scan done.Paula, forget about the hypochondriac business, Its we who are feeling the pain, so look after yourself!!! I've always said I would like to have a rheumatologist who suffers from same thing as myself!!! I will let you know the results of MRI whenever i get it. Take care. X

[Paula-C in reply to optomistic]

I've had a problem with my consultant putting everything down to stress. I've mentioned three things to him that had been bothering me. One I have proved to him that he is wrong, it is a side effect of one of the drugs. Another thing I mentioned to my dentist and that resulted with me seeing a maxifollio consultant who told me what was causing the problem and it wasn't stress. The third thing, well at my last appointment with him he more or less told me not to mention it again. I've been telling him about it for a year and a half now, had three different diagnosis's off him, the last one being stress. I did pluck up courage during my last consultation with him, to tell him what I thought. I made it clear to him that I wasn't happy with everything being put down to stress. I told him that RA was a very complex illness and could manifests itself in several ways and I wanted to feel confident telling him about things without him putting it down to stress. I don't think it went down very well, he said we had a problem if I had lost confidence in him. I half expected him getting up, opening his door and telling me to leave, thankfully he didn't. He is a good consultant but I now am a little hesitant to tell him things. I do talk to my specialist nurses more, but still feel awkward in saying too much. That's why its so good to read on here that it is down to my RA.

I will be looking out for your post about your results.

Paula x

[cathie]

I've had quite a bit of problems with my meds and sun sensitivity. I've got two factor 50 products I use. The easiest and cheapest is the wee bottles of Nivea for kids. Its very gentle because of it being for children and the wee pots can go in a bag to carry with you and slap on whenever the sun comes out. Have a lovely holiday though - hope its somewhere lovely