DMARDS

My RA doc wants to start me on a DMARD, can anyone tell if there are any bad side effects?

[andyswarbs]

The standard starting DMARD is methotrexate. Whatever the drug you will be started on a low dose, to make sure side-effects are minimal. Then if that is okay the dosage will be increased and increased to aggressively suppress the arthritic symptoms. At some point other DMARDS may be added if symptoms not being suppressed to your needs.

The good news about methotrexate is it does not harm your gut. This is in contrast to other DMARDS, which is important if like me you decide to recover from arthritis by changing your diet. Search on leaky gut syndrome if you want to know more.