New

I'm new to this and the disease. I was diagnosed last week after a year of drs treating the symptoms. my RA guy diagnosed me last week with PsA he told me to take 2400 mg of Ibuprofen for a month and then we woud meet again and he would prescribe meds. I want to know what people have used and what is the most bad side effects.

Initially, many docs will start patients on MTX (aka methotrexate). It is the least expensive, and oldest of the meds used to treat PsA. Side effects can be many with MTX or the other meds classified as DMARDS. You can take a look at our meds page for information on MTX.

The other class of drugs used is biologic meds. (humira, Enbrel, Remicade, Symponi, Cimzia, etc)These are usually administered via injection of infusion, and the most common side effects with these are usually limited to injection site issues like redness, itiching or swelling at the injection site. Many patients treat this with benadryl successfully.

Most docs also prescribe an antiinflammatory like ibuprofen. There are numerous other antiinflammatories to try in case ibuprofen isn't very helpful. Many patients will also take a PPI to help protect the stomach from antiinflammatories. Personally, i take Pepcid, and notice that it really relieves discomfort associated with taking Meloxicam daily.

There will be times that steroids are needed to help keep the PsA under control. Usually these are taken short term. If they have to be taken for a long term, low doses are used. People tollerate steroids differently, but often complain of insomnia, anxiousness, or feeling extreme emotions. Bloating, and nausea are also pretty common, as is weight gain.

Welcome to the community! I am glad you were able to find us and hope that you get situated with a good med plan soon. If you have any other questions, just ask!

has any of these meds helped the rash too?

Yes, I hope so! I'm new to severe psoriasis, though not so new to PsA and am re-starting Methotrexate primarily for the skin disease. Humira is also used to treat severe psoriasis as are other biologics I believe.

Seems to me that the first line of treatment for psoriasis is topical treatment, the steroid creams and gels. Do you use any of these? If you don't see a dermatologist already it might be a good idea to make a derm appointment.

NYCR said:

has any of these meds helped the rash too?

That's pretty much how I was started as well, with that dose of ibuprofen for a few months. When fatigue became a real problem, I had plaquenil added in, different NSAIDs swapped in and out, etc. I was diagnosed 8 years ago now, and am typically on a three pronged approach. I use an NSAID on a daily basis (with breaks here and there), a DMARD, and a biologic.

For some people who present with severe disease, they may be started on a disease modifying med much faster. My initial presentation was reasonably mild. Side effects. . . . everyone is different. I haven't had anything horrible, more just annoying. Nausea on one med, diarrhea on another, some hair loss. Again, annoying but not life threatening. I hope that your experiences are similar.

The only other tip is that you should talk to your doctor about using something like prilosec to protect your stomach when you are on daily NSAIDs.

Hi I was diagnosed in November and started on mtx - only real side effects were headaches - now don’t get them and tiredness. No problems apart from that so don’t be too scared about what you read!!