Methotrexate

Please tell me it gets better than this!

A few weeks ago, my rheumatologist started me on methotrexate to help deal with my serum-negative rheumatoid arthritis that flared in a really major and crippling way after the birth of Samuel.

We opted to start with 5mg, and increase by 2.5mg increments up to 15mg, at which point I will be reviewed again. I take it on Friday evenings and yesterday I took 10mg...

Do I need to get used to a life where Saturdays basically don't exist?

The first time I ended up pretty badly wiped out and couldn't do anything but sleep through Saturday morning. I completely slept through Sam's 6am and 10am feeds - damned good thing DH was around because I just couldn't wake up. It was Monday morning before I started to feel normal again.

Second time - I didn't seem to get quite so tired, but I became extremely grumpy and kept sniping at DH. I didn't even want to be around myself.

This time... it's back to the sleeping. I'm usually a light sleeper, but managed to sleep through DH mowing the lawn right outside the open bedroom window. I've been fighting sleep all day, and I suspect I'm going to be in a fairly similar state tomorrow. It doesn't feel like lessening any time soon. I'm also starting to get the nausea setting in with each dosage.

I'll still be increasing the dosage over the next two weeks... but do the side effects settle after a while once you hit the maximum dosage? Or is this going to be my life now - zombie BW in residence all weekend? Is there anything you've found to help with the side effects? My rheumy suggested I take folate tablets and told me to take the 5mg ones, but when DH said we had 0.5mcg tablets in the house, he said they'd be fine... Will the higher dose of folate help with the fatigue/nausea in any way?

I suppose I can cope with sleepy weekends just so long as it eventually helps the arthritis enough for me to be able to do all that I need to do during the week. I'm probably feeling really down about it all today because yesterday was an absolutely dreadful day in terms of the arthritis. Pretty much the worst I've had so far... It's not fun taking 15mg of prednisone (I get muscle cramps if I take too much so I've had to drop from 20mg before I was really ready) and regular dosages of both nurofen plus and panadeine just to try to keep mobile. :(

BW

My mum is on this for Lupus...I think it knocks her around pretty bad...I know she is alwys trying to get the dose lowered. (she has to mix with heaps of other drugs too though) I will ask her some more questions about it tomorrow and get back to you.
:hugs:

ETA: Have you been tested for lupus??

Yep, I was tested for lupus. It was negative. I've been tested for every known condition that can cause joint pain and come up negative on every single one of them. At that point my rheumy gave me the "serum-negative rheumatoid arthritis" label, but freely admitted that all it meant was that he didn't have the foggiest clue of what it actually was... all we can do is manage the symptoms. It does respond to the usual drugs, but all have slowly become ineffective over time. I guess I'm just lucky in that I don't seem to be experiencing any permanent joint degradation/damage - just temporary pain and swelling which can strike in any and every joint in my body.

Thanks, Marlene. I was kind of hoping that it may be something I get used to and can deal with over time... but I've got a sneaking suspicion that it won't be. :(

BW

I am supposed to be starting MTX, but for psoriasis :(

Sorry, cant help as to how it affected me, but hearing how its affected you worry's me!

Papillon, are you thinking of having children soon?

The reason I ask is because you can't be TTC, pregnant or breastfeeding while on MTX. Despite my history of miscarriages and needing IVF and taking two and a half years to conceive Samuel, despite having severe male factor infertility as well as all my issues so that there is effectively zero chance of a natural conception, my rheumy would only put me on it because my OB had put me on the pill. He's also suggesting 6 months off it before we even think about having child number 2...

So, might be an idea to hurry up on the TTC thing and get child number 1 out of the way before you start trying to treat your psoriasis so aggressively. It's what we had to do before I could start MTX for my arthritis, we just didn't expect it to take so long.

And some encouragement - I'm normally hit pretty badly by side effects, particularly if they are on the causing tiredness/fatigue side of things. I'm not sure what I'm experiencing is normal, so there's hope it won't be so bad for you.

BW