Medication

I just don’t feel that this medicine is working.

I know the feeling. I gave MTX a full six months, with increased dosages along the way, before stopping it and trying another drug in the same class, Leflunomide. It takes time for any medication to start working, and it can really stink while you're waiting. Right now I'm in the waiting game on whether to try a new med again. Even when you find something that works, it's not uncommon to have to switch meds, for a variety of reasons, or add in more. Just the nature of the beast.

I took 6 pills this morning instead of the usual 4 and I feel no better, have had a headache all day from the neck pain.



Stoney said:

I know the feeling. I gave MTX a full six months, with increased dosages along the way, before stopping it and trying another drug in the same class, Leflunomide. It takes time for any medication to start working, and it can really stink while you’re waiting. Right now I’m in the waiting game on whether to try a new med again. Even when you find something that works, it’s not uncommon to have to switch meds, for a variety of reasons, or add in more. Just the nature of the beast.

Hope, methotrexate is very slow to take effect. It usually takes three months or more before you feel a benefit. Meanwhile, it can do things like make you feel icky. You just have to be a patient patient. There are no quick fixes for this disease.

How patient? Why does it take so long when it’s in my system?



Seenie said:

Hope, methotrexate is very slow to take effect. It usually takes three months or more before you feel a benefit. Meanwhile, it can do things like make you feel icky. You just have to be a patient patient. There are no quick fixes for this disease.

Good question! I have never thought about it, just chalked it up to being the way it is. I’ll look into it and maybe in the meantime someone else will give a good answer!



Hope said:

How patient? Why does it take so long when it’s in my system?


Seenie said:
Hope, methotrexate is very slow to take effect. It usually takes three months or more before you feel a benefit. Meanwhile, it can do things like make you feel icky. You just have to be a patient patient. There are no quick fixes for this disease.

DMARDs p(of whic MTX is one) are unlike NSAIDs since they do not decrease prostaglandin production, do not directly relieve pain, nor reduce fever. In effect, DMARDs slow the disease process by modifying the immune system . One group of cells that bond to tnfs is replaced by another group of cells that don't bind to tnfs. It takes time to do all that. NOBODY knows why they work.........

I’m really having a hard time with this pain.



tntlamb said:

DMARDs p(of whic MTX is one) are unlike NSAIDs since they do not decrease prostaglandin production, do not directly relieve pain, nor reduce fever. In effect, DMARDs slow the disease process by modifying the immune system . One group of cells that bond to tnfs is replaced by another group of cells that don’t bind to tnfs. It takes time to do all that. NOBODY knows why they work…

Hi Hope

I spent 6 months on methotrexate in 2001, starting on 2 pills a week and increasing the dose by 1 a month. After 6 months I was taking 7 pills a week and at my 6 monthly appointment to see my specialist I advised him that I didn't like the side effects (excessive flatulence) and I wanted to quit. He informed me I wasn't able to stop taking these pills immediately but I had to wean myself off them at the same rate I had increased the doseage. So I cut the intake back by one pill a week and after 4 weeks of that I stopped taking them because there were nothing positive going on. The side effects weren't cured until 2012 when I got a probiotic mixture from an alternative medicine doctor. Good luck and I hope you get some relief.

I am so sorry that you hurt, Hope. It simply sucks. That said, there are things r
That can be done for pain, and it sounds like you really need some intervention of some sort. I recommend going to see the doctor that hears you best, be it your derm, rheum or primary and ask for help. Tell them you hurt and that you need help controlling the pain until the underlying condition is under control. Be open minded to trying things like PT, aquatic PT, acupuncture, steroid injections, trigger point injections, or even counseling and biofeedback; don’t just focus on medication management for pain. You will get the best results if you have a nice combination of therapies working for you.

What has worked for me is a combination of exercise, counseling, topical meds, NSAIDs, and break through pain meds. I will be trying acupuncture too, as I would like to discontinue some of the meds I am taking and this might give me a way. It took a while to get everything just so, but it was worth it. I still have pain every day, but it’s no where near as bad, and I am better able to handle it when it does get bad.



Hope said:

I’m really having a hard time with this pain.


tntlamb said:

DMARDs p(of whic MTX is one) are unlike NSAIDs since they do not decrease prostaglandin production, do not directly relieve pain, nor reduce fever. In effect, DMARDs slow the disease process by modifying the immune system . One group of cells that bond to tnfs is replaced by another group of cells that don’t bind to tnfs. It takes time to do all that. NOBODY knows why they work…