Re: update on my partner - Methotrextate?

[Guest guest]

Hi

Many doctors are very reluctant to prescribe Prednisone if there is another drug

out there that will work. Prednisone is great for short term usage but it

carries some rather nasty side effects if used long term.

There are several folks here in this forum that speak highly of Methotrexate

taken along with Folic Acid. It works just as well as Prednisone in many cases.

I have not used Methotrexate myself but have been on Prednisone in the past for

Asthma and severe allergies. Ended up on it for a few years and the results

were not nice.

Fr. Dave

[Guest guest]

My brother-in-law is a Doctor and from discussions

with my Rhumie here's what I understand of

Methotrexate: It's a classification of disease

modifying drug (like Sulphasalizine and Enbrel), but

you may still need to take something else to treat the

symptoms (the swelling, etc). It's an old medication,

but *very* good. However, they both said if you can

get by with Sulphasalizine, which has less impact, you

should. If the sulpha doesn't work, the move to the

Meth and then onto the Enbrel. However, apparently,

let's hope you have a good drug plan for Enbrel as

it's REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE. But apparently Enbrel is

the Cadilliac of the drugs.

As always, this is just my $0.02 and check with your

doctor (or two) for their thoughts.

-Sandy

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hi

It is great that your partner is starting on methotrexate - what dosage is

he on? It usually takes from a few weeks to 3 months to work, so be patient.

Re prednisone, these are my thoughts only, but as your partner is in a very

bad way I suggest you do 'insist' on it. A short dose of prednisone,

starting at a high dose and slowly tapering down, can work absolute wonders.

(I had a severe flare recently and was on 60mg for 5 days, then 40 mg for 1

week, 20mg 1 week, 10mg 1 week and 5 mg 1 week. It worked a miracle!) Joint

damage can happen reasonably quickly in aggressive arthritis flares, so it

is worth trying everything you can.

Again, your partner is so lucky to have you advocating for him - keep up the

good work!

Best wishes,

[Guest guest]

P.S: I am on methotrexate too - 10mg per week.

RE: update on my partner - Methotrextate?

[Guest guest]

Hi

I was diagnosed with reactive arthritis in November 2001 and

commenced Sulphasalazine straight away. It did help but I still had a

lot of pain and swelling in my joints so my rheumatologist prescribed

methotrexate in January 2003 which made a huge difference. The pain

and swelling was greatly reduced my only problem was I had a lot of

nausea with it but we found Ondansetron the best for reducing the

nausea, we use it for people on chemotherapy in the United Kingdom. I

am on 20 to 25mg per week with folic acid 10mg every day except the

day I take methotrexate as folic acid can reduce the effectiveness of

the methotrexate. The folic acid also helps keep at bay mouth ulcers

caused bt the methrotrexate.

As for steroids they have their place but as other folks have said it

has nasty side effects and can only be used for short periods so we

tend not to use them.

I was very frustated at loosing my independance and tended to take

all my frustrations out on my partner. So remember and look after

yourself. Everyone asks how the person affected is but the people who

look after are affected by the illness too, you can feel useless and

lonely too especially when things

first start. The people in this group are really supportive even

though we all come from different countries we all have something in

common.

Take Care

Margaret-Ann

>

*Unnecessary amounts of quoted message removed by moderator for poster.

[Guest guest]

Does anyone have any experience with this Methotrextate? How soon

> should we expect to see results? Should I borrow some of my

> neighbor's dog's prednisone and send it to my partner? Should I push

> him to insist upon the prednisone?

>

> Thanks so much.

>

>

>

, Don't think I haven't eyeballed my dogs' prednisone when I was

running low-haha. I was put on methotrexate with folic acid, but in the

meantime, while waiting for it to work (up to 8 weeks, right?)I was on

prednisone. I never felt so good. I could wear real shoes and go down

stairs-and just walk w/o the crutches. I could see getting hooked on

prednisone, isn't that the funniest thing? Anyway, the methotrexate

helped some-but not enough to get my life back. I was put on remicade

and am 75% back to my pre-arthritis self. I weaned off the prednisone

slowly. I can't believe a doctor wouldn't prescribe it while waiting

for another treatment to work. I know it has side effects long term,

but if you can't walk.....I couldn't make myself care too much about

side effects when I was in so much pain I wanted out of here. I am

finally off the prednisone-20 lbs later-yikes- and still take 10

methottrexate pills a week and remicade infusions, and voltaren twice a

day. The steroids are a short fix, but it is heaven for the short time

the swelling is gone, and giving time for the other meds to work. I

would suggest having him insist!

I wish the best for him,

Tammie

[Guest guest]

Thank you all for your responses. It is really helpful. While I am

quite aware of the nasty side-effects of Prednisone, I find the

difference in the 'approach' to prednisone between what I have

experienced here in the US and what is going on with my partner in

Spain to be enlightening, to say the least.

I was just at a conference in Atlanta and someone was telling me about

their newly-encountered shellfish allergy and prednisone was

prescribed. I guess what I am saying is that in my rhelm of awareness

of treatments, prednisone is common and commonly prescribed. In Spain

it appears that it is a medication of 'last resort.' I hope someday

to understand the underlying decision-making logic and process that

resulted in that conclusion. Also, I am trying to be open to the idea

that the Spaniards may be right - however unlikely it may be. In

general, Spaniards do not like taking medication, so maybe that has

something to do with it.

Other news: My partner tested positive for HLA-B27.

I will find out about the dosages and progress and post it here.

Again, thanks so much for your thoughtful and frank responses. This

group is better than Ativan ;-)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My prayers are with your partner. He is lucky to have you someone like you

supporting and advocating for him.

I am not a medical professional. So my comments include more questions than an

answers. And I may be way off base with this thinking. But it occurs to me that

the Spaniards may be more homeopathic rather than allopathic in their approach

to health and illness. And if I am right, homeopathic medicine works " with " the

ailment rather than against it. By using homeopathic medicine they work with the

body's natural defenses, the immune system, to inspire the body to heal itself.

This may be great unless your immune system is out of whack like ours is. So I

think there may be some problems in using homeopathic remedies with auto-immune

diseases. My guess is that Prednisone is a very allopathic med and not well

regarded in Spain because of it. I know we had a lovely Portuguese woman with us

for awhile. She may have some insights here.

Any thoughts from others regarding this?

Best regards,

in CA

[Guest guest]

in CA,

I have had a lot of experience and done a monumental amount of research into

non-traditional treatments, herbs, supplements etc -- including homeopathic.

In a few isolated situations, Homeopathic's approach may make some sense.

Basically, the concept behind homeopathic is to give you a tiny dose of

something that causes the same bad symptoms you're already having (!), and

presumably your body will react to counter its effects.....fixing your

original problem in the process. However, in my experience it either usually

does nothing at all, or makes things worse. I've never once had a good

result from a homeopathic product, and the few times I've had friends or

family report good results from them, it seems easily explainable by

coincidence or placebo effect.

I'm not saying that homeopathic NEVER works. I'm just saying that it's a

very flawed concept that can't possibly be applied to *every* ailment as its

proponents tend to suggest. So approach it with tremendous caution -- I've

tried everything under the sun to help myself cope with all this pain & I

hate to see people suckered into losing more money to " solutions " that don't

help.....

-