I was on it for about 3 years with folic acid and biological. I experienced hair loss. Hair has come back a little. Some of hair loss maybe my age. Started it at 59. No other side effects. Make sure to rotate injection sites.i imagined a calander on my stomach. Easy way to remember. Good luck. Hope you have a good outcome!
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Thanks everyone. This site is awesome and has been my “go to” for sanity. I was diagnosed three months ago and go see my radiologist tomorrow for a three month check up. She’s gonna be pissed because I haven’t started my meds. Oh well, my body. Still nervous thinking the treatment is worse than the disease. I have it in my fingers but they haven’t been too bad over the last 3 months. My dr gave me another shot of kenalog 4 weeks ago and I take the odd aleve and can carry on quite fine. Again thanks for taking time to reply! Ps I’m 69, seems really late for this to start!
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Hi wisc72,
I can relate, and I ditto what gonzo said about the scary meds—I went through the same feelings, and I’m sure we’re not alone.
My PsA started out with painful and slightly swollen hands, too. I was in my mid-50s when diagnosed. My rheumy wanted me to start with sulfasalazine and then go to Methotrexate, but I refused them—same reasons as you. Over a few years my PsA got worse with tendinitis, swelling, painful stiffness in a LOT of places…plus psoriasis. I finally caved and by that time I was so desperate we got me on Enbrel. That was 5 years ago. Enbrel made a huge difference. It was miraculous at first. Over the past few years, though, I’ve had trouble with my feet and lower back, and I often wonder if I would’ve started treatment with meds sooner could I have avoided the damage PsA caused in those places?
I’m 65 and walking is painful…I need to walk slowly and stop to rest frequently. The Enbrel still works to prevent further pain and damage, which is worth any risks associated with it for me! I’m at retirement age and a big reason I haven’t retired yet is because I’ve been worrying Medicare won’t pay for Enbrel or any biologic. My rheumy gave me some good info about that recently, and there is payment assistance for some of the biologics for Medicare patients which is worth looking into.
I like to tell my story to help people like you who are afraid of the meds. Maybe I should’ve taken the sulfasalazine and MTX and I’d be walking better today, but that’s hindsight. At least I have a success story with Enbrel (by the way, absolutely no SEs from it) and hopefully you’ll have a success story for us someday! Good luck! 
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Hello, my reaction was identical at onset. Got as far as diagnosis, which is already huge step forward, and would not start treatment for first three mos, scared of medication. And yet medication and clean eating has made the difference between wheelchair and back to walking without crutches
it took patience and many returns to docs to abate flares and tune in to medication combos which have an effect, it is so worth it, please do not resist and start
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Please start and don’t be too seduced by the steroid injections. I also didn’t start for the better part of a year and was very seduced by steroids then too. I’m only three years into this disease and last week I found out that I’ve three compressed fractures of vertebrae in my lumber spine. Guess what helped cause them? Yes steroids. And guess where that’s leading me now? Yes Osteoporosis. Being scared is natural but getting on top of this ridiculous and horrid disease properly is of the utmost importance - really it is.
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I don’t get it … steroids are strong drugs and not sustainable as a treatment for PsA. In fact they probably do come into the category of treatment that can be worse than the disease if overused.
Looking back at your original post I think you fear feeling very tired & generally blah as a result of Mtx, plus losing your hair and gaining weight. Seriously, PsA and Psoriasis are quite capable of causing all of that and much more all on their own.
I’m vain, I crave energy, I wanna feel good, I’m not a masochist and I like Mtx.
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I hope this reply gets to all of you who replied over the last two days because your input was exactly what I needed. Thanks very much. I saw my Rheumetologist (not radiologist as I said in my post) yesterday and she reiterated that I have this disease and here is how to treat it. So mainly with your help, I’m going to get at it. Skin test and blood work next week then mtx injections, with folic acid and sulphasalazine. I really appreciate your quick posts especially telling me about your experiences. I’ll get over being mad that I have it and enjoy my retirement which starts in three days. Thanks again
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I hope you see really good improvement. In any case, let us know how it goes, good luck wisc72.
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I’m so pleased - you’ve no idea how pleased I am. And it’s brilliant in my view your treatment is both mxt and sulfasalazine too. Mxt hated me but sulfasalazine loved me and indeed worked for a while.
I totally get it about the medication worries. Those long lists of side effects are crazy. But it’s really because of this site that I realized I would have to start sooner to avoid long term damage. And because my mother took so much prednisone that her entire aorta is now aneurysmal. She had one of the biggest aneurysms repaired but the others are on a wait-and-see plan while she takes drastic amounts of blood pressure and blood thinning medications. That scared me more than anything else!
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As an experiment, I googled ‘side effects of tea’ and this was top of a (long) list:
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Ha! It’s so true… if someone put a warning label on cats it would include life threatening immune reactions and serious pulmonary events, too!
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You eat cats!?
Ours is 26 years old & increasingly high maintenance. It’s beginning to seem that side effects on us include a life time of servitude …
These side effect lists are partly driven by fear of litigation I think. As in any side effect anyone has ever reported tends to go on the list somewhere.
I know side effects are real, I know they can be incredibly frustrating. It just concerns me that Mtx scares folk so much when it’s a cheap-ish med that really can help and can also be dropped at any time if needs be. I think the internet has given it an undeserved bad rep.
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