Hi Melanie. I see you've also got a Samuel. :)
I still haven't really decided what I'm going to do. I've now been on 20mg of mtx long enough for it to be working and I'm all but off prednisone now. On 1mg of prednisone every second day and considering dropping it altogether in the very near future. Most days I'm fine - once I get over the morning stiffness. I still have pain, but it's manageable - but at night I'm usually relying on mersyndol night strength and/or nurofen plus to be able to sleep. It also seems that the stronger the pain meds I have at night, the less stiff I am the next morning.
The downside of all of this - I'm not tolerating the side effects of the increased dose all that well. The brain fog is mostly ok, but the stomach troubles can last for days. I can't live in a situation where DH is completely responsible for the care of my son on Saturdays and I'm still prone to racing off to the bathroom at no notice on Mondays.
I'm thinking of dropping the dose of the methotrexate and adding in another drug. Rheumy is inclined towards adding salazopyrin back into the mix - I'm not so sure it will actually work. Tempted to go with the arava... I know the two years sounds scary, but there is a two-week wash out that can be done. I've heard it's pretty full-on, but I'd be inclined to take anything that reduces my drug-free time before the next pregnancy.
One small advantage we have, one small positive of having had to go through the hell of IVF... I have two frozen embryos that were stored when I was 33. I can wait until I'm 39 to go back for them and still be trying to get pregnant with the fertility of a 33 year old woman. It removes a lot of the time factor for us, but I can understand how it could be a huge issue for others. :hug:
Nice to meet you. I know it sucks that you have this condition and know what I'm talking about with the hell of the drugs that come with it, but it is nice to find someone who understands. :)
BW
