Hi, New to the site.....

[Guest guest]

Hi! My name is Missy and I found out about a year ago I had PA. I have

only seen my dermatologist and he wanted me on Enbrel. I took all the

test and my insurance approved it, but I decided not to because of all

the side effects I read about. I just saw my Dr. again and now she

wants to try me on Methotrexate. Again, some scary side effects. What

is your experience with either of these drugs? Methotrexate seems like

a better fit for me because I can take it in pill form. I am not

really a needle person. LOL!!But what I read about the liver damage,

loss of hair, etc... really scares me. Does it clear up the psoriasis?

Does it help with the arthiritis (sp?) I am just tyring to get some

feedback before I decide.

Thanks for your time!

Missy

[Editor's Note: It sounds like you are not yet under the care of a

rheumatologist. If not, then you need to be as PA won't magically disappear and

a dermatologist is not qualified to treat arthritis disorders. I think you'll

find that almost every one of us was afraid to start on the " big gun "

medications for the same reason you are - fear of the side effects. Read the

warning material on a package of aspirin or pepto bismal or any other over the

counter drug and you'll probably never even brush your teeth! The reality is

that while you MAY experience one or more side effects from ANY medication (or

fruit, or shellfish, or wheat, or gluten, etc), the overwhelming majority of

people DO NOT have anything even close to resembling the horrors described on

the package. Failure to treat the disease agressively may mean that it

continues to spread and cause irreparable damage and the chances of that

happening are far, far greater than the chances of you experiencing a serious

side effect from these medications. When you are in enough pain (and have

probably done a great deal of damage), you may find that you are more afraid of

what will happen if you don't take the medication than if you do. For the

thousands of us on this list who have been there, almost none of us regret going

on these medications and wonder what took us so long. Hope this helps. Kathy

F.]