Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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How to deal with the fear of what the future holds

Fear57
Fear57

I have been strugeling with the pain for about 6 months and am looking for tips on how to best deal with all the symtoms and treatments. Have been on MTX for 4 weeks and each one has been different and would like to add in any holistic treatments that help?

depotblue
depotblue
one test that I found helpful was the wire up the nose and down the throat for 24 hours. acid test. i saw an ent. battery pack on hip and then hit the button before eating or sleeping. it returned 24 hours of objective facts with respect to where the acid was and when why. instead of my delineating my subjective symptoms and then i treated for a while. i went into acid remission for a number of years. then it happened again.

joline i loved the don't read the news comment. yeah shrink wrap me for 2 years and 11 months more, please. the more i read the more acid pours out of me.

mtx can kind of be toxic to some going in until they adjust. i have other friends who have been on it over 20 years. wide variance. i take leucovorin as scripted by the rheumatologist
Kimhurts
Kimhurts
I forgot to add... since your question was about MTX, I do the injectable version, so I just get nausea the next day. I use ginger to help with that and often it does.

Can we take from your question that prior to starting the MTX you had no problem? Did they start you on oral meds? I don't remember reading about that.
californialynn
californialynn
When I was originally prescribed NSAIDS I was also prescribed an anti-GERD medication, as it is known that NSAIDS can cause GERD. I currently take the generic version of Aciphex which works very well for me.

[For those who are curious: I once stopped the generic Aciphex and a week or so later......bad news.]
Fear57
Fear57
Prior to being diagnosed with RA in the fall, this summer really noticed a change in ability to eat in the evening and have very little appetite in general. I have no desire to eat till about noon and have to be caucus certainly on volume. Long standing issues with hyper acidity to the point last year that the esophagus had cell changes which were subsequently reversed with Dexilant. This is why we never even looked at taking pills and went straight to injection. Have been reading up on gastropareis and that sounds like it may be the issue, I am lucky to have a good amount of fat weight (never thought i would say that) that am in no danger of severe undernourishement like other cases I read. I must remember to get ginger as that has always help me with nausea, sometimes you just forget about the simple things like ice and ginger.