Losing weight

It may not be the medications. People generally lose weight with this disease. We are a restless lot, even when asleep and so we burn more calories. Steroids cause muscle loss in the upper limbs over time and there is also muscle loss because inflamation and pain stops us from being able to work as hard as we used to. I've gone from 11 and a 1/2 stone to 10 stone but my body mass index is still around 30 meaning thst most of what I've lost is muscle. Its also possible that your diet is too strict. RA folks need iron so red meat may need to be back on the menu. Make sure your doctor knows what your diet is. On the plus side, weight loss is great for knees and ankles. My doctor said a 10% weight loss gets a 30% improvement in these joints.

Could it be the RA itself that's losing you your weight? I lost 10 kilos in my first year, I was a skeleton! (I mean I could quite literally see my skeleton through my skin – it was fascinating)

I never put it all back on again either, which was fine by me. I settled on a weight I was comfortable with.

But losing weight is good with RA because it's so much gentler on your joints carrying fewer kilos around.

Of course if you're seriously getting weak then you have to take care and speak to your GP.

(And watch out for that 'fake' butter. Latest health wisdom is that real fats in moderation are generally better for you than margarine or that Flora stuff...)

Hope all the best for you!

I agree with the other replies as I lost a lot of weight in my first year of RA and I never took any medications. The diet is how I got so much better (I'm on a vegetarian, low carb, no gluten/grains, no dairy, no junk diet too) but it's hard to put on weight if you're on a strict junk free diet. I've put on almost a stone by eating lots of eggs, nuts and coconut oil but I'm still a bit underweight although much stronger now. I also agree that coconut oil is much better than fake butter Also I did some exercise as my muscles deteriorated so much from resting when I was in pain, if you can exercise it will help with the muscle loss, (but not if it hurts). Good luck

I'm on Enbrel the past six months and Mtx before that for several years. The past 3 months or so I seem to be losing weight. About 4-5% (2kgs, 4+lbs so far) which I suspected meds but figured it was just depression.

We have a really sucky disease. Some are a lot worse off than others and I feel lucky (for now) that I don't have the kind of symptoms that I read so much about. But my life is different than it used to be and I can't do all the things I used to and it isn't all because I'm getting older. It's because I have RA.

So, I'm getting along in some clothes that have been a little snug, so yay for me! There's the upside I wasn't even looking for!

But I'm curious now. Great site here.

River- I hope you can find a healthy balance if it's related to meds. I don't like taking them, but there's too much improvement in my day to stop.