severe back pain within an hour of taking methotrexate

Folic acid is depleted immediately when using methotrexate from the blood and causes extreme nausia if not taken. They are ti be taken on days when methotrexate is not taken, either 1 time wkly at 5 mg or 1 mg daily.

hi know as i have been taking folic acid tablets for years now i take so many differant tablets on the Methetrexate days i sound like a Spanish maracas   still i dont care as it stops the pain and i still function and work

when i was diagnosed and prescribed Folic acid tablets i thought i know i had a big tummy but i am not pregnant as i thought thats  its was for pregnant  women but i was wrong its helped me no end and i have not had any side effects from any drugs i am on and i also tapered right down on some of the Methotrexate and also Prednisalone  but started to get flare ups so the Methotrexate was increased to 20mg a week but still suffered until the Prednisalone was increased then the pain stopped so i will be decreasing the Methotrexate again and staying on a holding dose of Prednisalone

Hi, Methotrexate causes flares..prednisone is only for shirt term..terrible long term effects..shiuld only take folic acid on non-methitrexate days. I went off from the MTX as it caused flares, infections and immune system depression, and caused me to be on continual prednisone which is very bad for us (our bones, adrenal glands and many other body systems). It causes bones to have pits in them causing brittleness and very painful conditions in the spine and neck, eventually.. I am sustained on 5 mg daily..NO methotrexate. How much prednisone has your RA doctor given you??? Since the methotrexate is causing so many flares and pain issues and need for prednisone, this is symbolic of not working and shows serious toxicity to you, keeping you going multiple visits, and with poorly managed care. Have you considered no longer taking it and trying other bioligics or plaquinil instead? What type of RA do you have? Disability or SSI is given to many who have RA. But if your doctor is dangerously prescribing sustained prednisone, you may be able to work for having this disabled condition, but it is causing extreme dengerative side effects, that will be chronic pain long term in joints and bones, including dental, spine, neck, knees, etc.. I have seen others lose many of their teeth and have tremendous systemic infections from the combination of MTX and Prednisone together for periods if used 6 months or longer.. Keeping our drs in business yet destroying us by not managing our disease well. Do you have secondary illnesses? Do you take an anti inflammatory like prescribed mobic? Do you take tramadol for joint pain from damage caused by RA and poorly managed inflammation?

hi

i had been on prednisalone for 8 years but on reducing dosage and only on 1mg a day for the last 4 years as i just could not cut it out compleatly  and my Methatrexate was reduded to 2.f mg a week as everything was working fine as i was also on Leflunimide  its only recently 4 days since i have had to jump up to 20mg of pred and thats reducing every 5 days back done to 1mg  and i will be reducing Methatrexate again as that seems to be doing nothing also i have taken plaquinil a drug for the treatment of malariar

and all that done was cause my fingernails and toe nails to turn black and drop off so i stopped that straight away

Hello, your case sounds amazingly rare but does seem to be managed well. The lowest prednisone tablet for RA i have been informed is not 1 mg but 5 mg. This is what i have been prescribed as well which does not have the tixuc or damagung effects high doses wiuld have on a regular basis. I only flair about once yearly and that is if i get off course for taking good care of myself in the areas of stress, or nutritionally or by injecting things that are hughly inflammatory along with food sensitivities. What is your nutrition ir doiet like?

I meant introducing things...not "injecting"

my diet is anything i want to eat and drink and i dont gain weight either  so happy days i think i need to have a slightly higher dose of pred to stop the flare ups

and me still working and using my hands and walking about a lot has helped me keeping mobile and helps lose weight

Hello

Im on prednisolone 15mg as well as the folic acid. I think im still in a flair. Not sure what one is if im honest but been the same since November 2014. I was diagnosed February and frankly had enough. Work are horrible. Home life suffering. My gp is a waste of time but I have a great rheumy. Every cloud amd all that. :-(

Yes i think your occupation and drive to enjoy this may help.. as does being able to metabolize the diet or food you eat..are your meals prepared for you? Possibly your stress is helped or managed partly by thise around you? You do now sound as though your flares are more frequent. How frequent? What is your general basic diet? Could you have been mistaken about your daily prednisone being 1 mg and actually being 5 mg? I was on 10 mg daily for some time at one time, and gradually went down to 5 mg daily. At this time i go every other day on the 5 mg prednisine and would never think of not taking my daily anti inflammatory, mobic. I also take 2 tramadol daily to help with some joint damage from previous poorly managed RA management .

It was very hard for me to tell the difference between the fibromyaga pain and RA flair but most often they overlapped, and i needed short term prednisone along with nutrition, stress, and balanced vitamin regime, and regulated sleep. If the prednisone is not kicking it out, can you ask for another prednisine pac or a daily low dose to get it under control?

I also found that the methotrexate was contributing greatly to my flares, inducing other body infections including dental.

if you are having a flare its like 10x worse than a normal day also do you have regular blood tests that the  rheumy and your Drs get a copy of as they can tell straight away if your RA levels have suddenly shot up they would phone you straight away  

i live on my own and prepare my own food or takeaways or eat out  also i am sure my pred is only 1mg  normaly

my flares only started in 2014 after a holiday in feb and then i suffered and needed a cortisone injection   and since then i had a few and needed to increase my Methotrexate gradually but still needed cortisone injections  until 4 days ago i was put on a increased dosage of Pred and the pain stopped as its a oral steroid  all in all my RA is under control its just getting the dosage right again and i think its going to need a increased dose of Prednisalone daily  up to 2 or 3mg  and see how i go and i dont take tramadol regualy

Gosh to me its at least 50% worse when in a flair and even more when combined with the fibromyalga pain that is triggered from methotrexate lowering my immune system or lack of proper nutrient absorption.. I would say it then goes up to 75% for me..doctors did not tell me that calcium with 2000+ mg of D3and magnesium glycinate would take away fibromyalga symptoms. . 4+ yrs..often could nit tell the difference between RA pain and fibromyalga, but many times they were both going on..the stress and pain alone seemed to trigger the RA flair..which was initially brought in by the methotrexate lowering my immune system thus depleting the balance of calciuim, magnesium glycinate, and D3 balance (calcium w/d3 must be in a 2:1 ratio with magnesium glycinate).

Gosh i didnt know RA prednisone was given in extremely low doses less than 5 mg.. I have always taken this dose ti keeo myself from going into frequent flares.. Anxiety or social gatherings seem to always trigger a flare for me.

I have stopped 5 prednisone mg daily on my own and take this every other day..

Ive not been out of this fatigue and pain since it all started. Ive not had a good day yet. I get up every morning with hope. It feels like each joint is being broken. Not all at once but eachjoint. I dont know what a flair is as its the same every day. Im sero negative so I cany tel from that but my das score in march was 6.1.

Im so confused with it all.

Ive had an injection and been on 15mg every day since.

go and see your dr and really kick up a fuss and get your Rheumy  to  get the correct dosage sorted as you have no quality of life if you are in so much pain

speak to you dr and get the dosage reduced if your that worried but it might be the correct dosage for YOU  and what you actually  need

Your not wrong there. Codeine intolerant so I only have paracetamol which is a joke. I hate it. Feel so ill.

Donna, your endless fatique and pain that is not being managed truly sounds like your adrenal glands are exhausted and drained, which the RA medications and lowered immune system triggers..and the disease than just progresses.. It blows mind that doctors are not very closely looking at this in RA patients who depend on them for their knowledge.. Because there is such a direct correlation, it seems irrational and almost deceiving to me..The adrenal glands ( master gland in body regulating hormones throughout entire body) becomes exhausted and fatiqued due to the induced cortsol levels forced upon the adrenal glands from the RA treatments and disease itself. Please research Adrenal gland fatique, and add other researches involving adrenal glands and prednisone use, and research all you can about the functions of the adrenal glands to take proactive charge of your health, and lesrn what is happening to so many with RA who are desperate.

Hello I will do. Yes I getting desperate amd very low. I just want the fatigue to go. Looking after two kids as well is killing me. Just need it to stop now. Cant get appointment for another month.

pardon my language but keep on at them and really p*ss them off and get the help YOU need as its you whos suffering and not them

you know what your body is doing they are the experts who should know how to stop the symptoms and pain

Yes we cannot wait and rely so totally on our doctors although we do need them to supplement our own research, knowledge, personalized experience and our quality of life. We just cant do this to ourselves Donna..

Im so new to all this its almost overwhelming. Just tired now...

I understand.. I hope you can gain some hope and strength and get the nightly sleep of 10 to 12 hrs to help you manage the pain and fatique enough to give you a much needed edge..your adrenals really do need a rest and i hope you can learn how to help them. I will research this further and see what i can find, and share if i think it may be helpful to you and others.

This system will not let me give you the source but there are some good things ive researched regarding adrenal exhaustion that could be very helpful to you.

Thanku so much will research. 10 hrs a nite. That sounds heaven. 3 to 4 hrs is about it as pain wakes me.

Oh my gosh.. sleep is crucial for managing and lowering pain.. magnesium glycinate (must be this compound) is magic for sleeping, and helps so much with pain management.. it must be taken with calcium with d3 though for both calcium and magnesium to be absorbed properly.. it is responsible for over 300 muscle, bone, and protein enzyme reactions and the RA disease and RA treatments interfere with this.. For absorbtion to help immensely with pain, sleep, and so many other mind/body enzyme reactions, I take 2000 mg of D3 with Calcium and Magnesium Glycinate. All 3 are needed to work together, and help with muscle/bone/protein/nerve building reactions, that all involve RA.  The calcium needs to be a 2:1 ratio with the Magnesium Glycinate.  I take the calcium earlier in the day (as it should not be taken at bedtime), and the Magnesium Glycinate at bedtime.It not only helps incredibly with sleep, and pain, but has taken away my fibromyalgia now for 4+ years. it must be the mag glycinate, not oxide..  I am a research kind of person and don't understand why doctors don't help with these kinds of things for those like us who have been so desperate with pain, and other issues, regarding this disease. I'm just greatful I was able to help with these things that I thought had no answers. Another thing that I do that  helps immensely is a 3 inch memory foam mattress.  It helps with pain in joints and muscles like I never knew was possible.

I should share that if you are a lighter weight person, you may not need the 3 inch memory foam mattress pad.. but only 2 inch. The 3 inch is generally for those over 200 pounds. It needs to have a 4 lb density when laying on this, rather than 3 lb density, as this is to soft to offer enough support.  I also use memory foam pillows to elevate myself where needed to support my body in ways that need this at times to take pressure off from certain areas.  It takes some experimenting to see what positioning is needed, if any at all. 

Peter, i foind thst doctors are only taking eduvated "guesses" as we are each different, with many different biilogival thungs going on inside of us, one effecting the other...testing dies not reveal many of these..sensitivity and toxicity, along with many biological, physiological,nuerological, vascular systems, etc are triggered or effected differently in us, and we need to find doctors who will work very closely with us as we learn the many different things, medicinally and otherwise to get us on the healing track.

My apologies for the many spelling errors above..am using a phone..

hi

my Drs are brilliant and the Rheumy consultant and his team of specialist nurses are fantastic as the listen to me and monitor by bloods like a hawk and any query they phone me and get more tests done

Hi

i have to agree Peter. I too have nothing but praise for my consultant and ra nurses. I have been phoned up if there s anything unusual in my monthly blood tests. I agree too with advice to Donna . A DAS score of over 6 is high and there is so much more they can try: increased dose methotrexate, plus other disease modifying drugs or biologics if still not in remission. The stated goal in the rheumatology dept I go to is early diagnosis, aggressive therapy aiming for remission. 

Hi Donna 

Das 6. 1 is high. You must be in so much pain. There is much more the ra consultant can do for you in terms of increasing methotrexate dose or adding another DMARD , or giving you prednisolone to bring inflammation down. Have you been given a phone number to contact a rheumatology nurse? I did this when I was in a flair last September and they got me an emergency appointment in the flair clinic within 2 days. The registrar said I was the only genuine flair he d seen that day and I had been thinking I might have been bothering them when I shouldn't. So don't hold back. Tell them how it really is for you and do hope you get some relief soon.

Hello

Update......I am now on a split dose of mtx, had another booster steroid inj and still on 15mg of prednisolone and also amitriptyline at nite. Went to see rheumy last week. Im still in a flair and the ra I have he has stated is very aggressive. He wants to keep going with mtx for another two months before review.

Thanku for all the support. Just hope I can get this under control. Had enough now :-(

Hi, if you are un agreement that the MTX is not contributing to your aggressive flare and need for 15 mg daily prednisone, you must do what is best fir you. It is my thoughts that RA doctors are basically usung our cases for case studies, in which to prove theur own case, the patient must be on a medication for an extended amt of time regardless of side effects. I believe these privare case studies can then be used in medical journals along with others to show results, even though toxivity if a drug msy clearly show. I believe we may be in a way guinea pigs without knowing, as private studies and reporting the effects on numerous patients to show results. I myself as many others have shown that mtx lowers the immune system, inducing infectioms and flares, with small print clearly saying in pharmaceudical leaflet that these painfyl symptoms as a result if this med, are a sign this medication should be stopped.. But each must do what they think is best and many are afraid to trust themselves and what their body is telling them. I understand and respect this.