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...
I'm really confused now. Last week after my first dose, I slept all night and most the of the next day as well as that night. Now, after the second dose last night, I went to bed and was suddenly awaken at 2:30 AM after only a few hours sleep with vivid dreams, feeling sick to my stomach, sweating and just overall kind of weird feeling. I never did go back to bed, instead waited for my wife to get up at 5:00 AM and see her off to work. I sat around awhile, fix a nice breakfast and decided to go to bed. That was at 7:30-7:45 or so and again after falling asleep, I awoke to a crazy dream and can't go back to sleep.
Question, does the side effects wear off after a few weeks or do they get worse. I was thinking if I slept so well last week it would be the same this week, instead it's the opposite. I'm not in severe pain and the inflammation as gone down big time from two weeks ago but I'm not sure I can handle this medicine if it's going to cause me to not be able to sleep like the steroids do.
Anyone else have anything like this happen to them while starting this drug? I know each person is probably different on how their body handles medicine but would appreciate feedback if you have had this kind of reaction. Thanks
Question, does the side effects wear off after a few weeks or do they get worse. I was thinking if I slept so well last week it would be the same this week, instead it's the opposite. I'm not in severe pain and the inflammation as gone down big time from two weeks ago but I'm not sure I can handle this medicine if it's going to cause me to not be able to sleep like the steroids do.
Anyone else have anything like this happen to them while starting this drug? I know each person is probably different on how their body handles medicine but would appreciate feedback if you have had this kind of reaction. Thanks
I thought i would not have major side effects either and then . . . 3 days later I woke up with mouth sores so bad that I thought I had a very bad case of strep. I take folic acid 2x day to combat these symptoms and even went to injections as opposed to pills. I still sleep from Friday night until Monday evening each time i inject. I really hope you contine without major side effects, but 30% of patients on MXT experience mouth sores as well as fatigue. Yippeeeee!
You may find switching to MTX injections rather than pills will alleviate some of these side effects.When I've been asleep for several hours, wake up and then go back to sleep I often have really weird dreams in that second sleep time. I haven't connected it to any meds but will start taking more notice.
Hope you find this improves as you become more used to MTX.
So far the pattern seems to be
Thursday = pill day and I break it up with 4 in the morning and 4 at night.
Friday = some sweating, a little nausea and a weird foggy feeling
Saturday = Zombie day. Seriously - I could probably go to sleep Friday night and wake up Sunday morning and get the same out of it! ANYTHING I try to do on Saturday - like the shopping or any chores - requires a nap of no less than two hours.
Sunday - It's like a fairy came and tapped me with a magic wand and "ping" - I'm my usual self again.
It's a little freaky. I'm hoping these abate a bit to where I can at least be fully functional for a few hours on any given Saturday!
I haven't had the vivid dreams, but my insomnia is gone for now. That's been nice. I keep water by the bed because I don't care for the dry mouth. I try to remember to have 16 oz before bed and 16 oz upon waking.
Also on here someone once recommended drinking plenty of water the day before and topping up with vit C. I think 1000 mg was the suggestion (it is what I take).
I find it helps but sometimes I still have bad days after - maybe other things contribute but there was an improvement.
I usually take two of my five pills in the morning and the rest in the evening before bedtime.
Hope you will be getting regular blood tests as mtx can affect liver enzyme results of some people.