I have been on MTX for about 4 months now and so far so good. However in the last week I have had a sore throat (courtesy of one my children) and suddenly I have a sausage like, painful toe. Is this what I can expect? Everytime I have a sore throat/cold another joint swells up?
That's a really good question and I'm looking forward to hearing the answer.
I've also been on MTX for a little over 4 months and got a cold a few weeks ago. I didn't notice any extra swelling.
Are you pain free? Even though i've been taking it for months, I'm still in pain. Nothing compared to what I was going through before, but I'm always wondering if this is the best it'll do.
Six months on mtx and my first cold last week (still not completely better), my fingers started to swell for the first time about the same time. I'm also much better than before but wonder if this is the best the mtx will do. I have to wait for ultrasound on my shoulders as my rheumatologist suspects tendon damage, he says TNF anatogists won't necessarily help more if it is tendons, anybody have any experience with this?
For what it's worth, I had what's called a "fever of unknown origin" a couple of times. Each time I spiked those fevers, my joints went into a total fit. Pain and swelling were so bad that I had no choice but to simply go to bed and wait it out. I was seeing a neurologist at the time, and shared with him my theory that whatever was causing the fever also caused the joints to flare. He said that was a possibility. BUT, he also said that with auto-immune arthritis, ANY fever (or anything that stimulates the immune system to work overtime) has the potential to stimulate a flare. May not be what's going on with you, but I did find the comment quite interesting, and I believe it explains some things in my medical history. Hope you feel better soon!