I have been taking mtx for close to a year now but the depression has been getting so bad that I have to stop and take an anti-depressant. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
I am continuing to take Sulfazine which does not seem to do anything but give me high liver readings but no relief. I will be starting Humira treatment soon so hoping that will help.
I felt weird whilst taking Leflunomide. By that time I'd tried Prednisone, Mtx and Sulfasalazine without ill effect and although none had tackled swelling, Mtx had reduced stiffness, improved fatigue and just made me feel better in myself. So going by those experiences I reckoned that feeling spacey and a bit panicky probably were due to Leflunomide rather than random occurrences. It also made me lose a lot of weight so on the plus side I did get to eat everything I fancied in the name of making my trousers stay up.
To be honest, I expect that Humira will just plain represent an improvement all round. I think depression does seem to be part and parcel of the disease process sometimes so there's always the possibility that at least part of how you feel could be due to poor disease control so far.
Flipping Mtx! Although I'm lucky in that it is very much a feel-good drug for me, stopping it was thought to be the cause of a mean old psoriasis flare. Don't worry, that isn't something I've heard of before, I bet that will not happen to you. So I'm back on it and whilst I'm happy, my liver is not and I've got to have a liver scan to see if I can stay on it despite the steadily rising numbers.
I guess most of us come across one or another drug that makes life complicated. But Humira .... that has been plain sailing for me & good stuff. I hope you get a great result and that the depression eases off.
That’s not a SE that I’ve heard of, but nothing surprises me. (But as Sybil says, depression is, for many of us, a disease symptom.) None of the DMARDs had any effect on me, good or bad. My rheum was convinced that leflunomide was doing me good, and a month later I needed a hip replacement. Go figure. The interesting thing about the biologics is that, by and large, they have far fewer side effects than the DMARDs do, and when you find one that works, it works really well. And than makes sense, when you think about it: they are smart drugs with a very well-defined target.
I was looking forward to having my first injection of Humira on Thursday. Unfortunatly that was the day they found I have Cancer in my Colon. It looks like its all removable and I should be able to recover, but the specialist has decided not to lower my immune system with the biologic until i have an operation to remove it all. It always seems to be one step forward and two steps back.
Oh no, Andy, I’m so sory to hear this. Smart of the doc to delay starting the Humira until you get the all-clear.
Yes, for people like us with a chronic disease, progress isn’t always straightforward. But you will get there in the end! Take good care of yourself and best wishes for a quick recovery.
Very sorry to hear this Andy. Thank goodness the outlook is so promising. Even so, must be a real blow and I should imagine that you are bound to feel anxious until successful surgery is completed. Do you have a date for surgery?
Meanwhile, you know where we are if we can help at all. Like Seenie says, there will be better times ahead, wishing you well.
Andy111A said:
I was looking forward to having my first injection of Humira on Thursday. Unfortunatly that was the day they found I have Cancer in my Colon. It looks like its all removable and I should be able to recover, but the specialist has decided not to lower my immune system with the biologic until i have an operation to remove it all. It always seems to be one step forward and two steps back.