(( big hugs)). I think we all have that same goal! (and I think some of us get there). Be kind to yourself and remember that just because you are upping things now doesn't mean you will always need to. Could be you try something new that results in your having to take a super low dose. We know our bodies adjust to our meds, we know we have to tweak them (I know, it sucks and it doesn't change the way we feel when they tell us we need MORE).
Allow yourself time to be sad over this, it's okay to nurture yourself!
Tort

Does MTX comes in 1 mg pills?

I hope you feel better soon.

{{{hugs}}}

I am sorry you are so down today. I hope that the change in meds will work to make you feel better so it will be worth it for you.
Take care,
Jess

Maybe you should discuss taking MTX in an injectable form? The pills never worked for me but the injectable does. Hope you feel better soon. hugs, marcia

mmztcass

the pills are 2.5 mg each. The most I was ever on was 22.5 or 9 pills.

Just know I am thinking of you. I see my Rheumy on Monday and will start MTX then. I"m not looking forward to it, either. I can't believe the drugs I am putting into my body over the last three years when all I'd taken before then was the occasional Panadol or Antibiotic. Howeveer, if they do their job, how can I complain?

Take care of you

Love and hugs,

Angel

Sorry you are feeling down. It is depressing to have to add drugs. I had to increase my MTX last February for the same reason to the max. dose and now this February I had to add Humira. I don't have any expectations of lowering my meds....I don't think that happens. RA does not get "better". I mean you can go into a "medically" induced remission but that means you have to stay on the medicine to stay that way. I'm not a doctor so maybe I'm wrong but from all the reading I've done in the 28 months I've had this that is what I've come to believe.
I have resolved myself to being grateful that I am high functioning with RA. At least when I take my meds I am good enough to go to work and not need prescription pain meds. There are some who have refractory RA and just can't get relief.
Hope you are able to come to terms with this soon- all the best to you.

Thank you for your kindness. I know I will have to come to terms with this and today I feel a little better than I did about it on Friday. It's just something I've got to face. By the way in Japan MTX pills come in 2mgs. Probabaly been adjusted for Japan. I hope you are all having a good week. *hugs*

Hi Jilly:

Yes, I did think MTX came in 2.5 mg pills here in USA.

Caspiana:

Thank you, now I understand why the MTX is in 2 mg sizes in Japan for you.

{{[gentle hugs everyone}}} :-)

I hate to say it, but I don't think with RA, it is like fighting a cold or a bacterial infection. My experience is that your don't take a few pills, or injections, then get better. This is a lifetime disease. My goal is to live a quality life. That means taking the drugs that help my RA cause the least amount of pain and damage. That also includes side effects. So you should not dismay if you have to increase your meds. You should be happy you have a rheumie who sees you are not responding enough, and increasing your regime.

My rheumie didn't seem to care much about the pain I was in. I tried not to complain. It took 5 years before I finally got on a biologic, and my life is completely different. If I had it to do over again, I would have been on it from the beginning. I also would not have gone on mthx with pre-exisiting liver issues, which only got worse. My rheumie never even told me when my ALT reached 300l it was the nurses for my health insurance, who were also monitoring me through a long term University study program. It was here at DS, I figured out that if I didn't get off mthx, I was going to destroy my liver and demanded a change. Now I am verging on normal, and it is worth it to me. Try looking at this as a chronic illness, with lots of research and hope being done, to remediate symptoms.

When I had to go off my biologic for reconstructive surgery, the flares were so bad, it was worse than the surgery. I still have not recovered my voice from the RA nodule on my vocal folds. No one will ever get me off my meds, because my body knows what it is to live pain free, and that is my objective. Different idea, after 10 year of this disease.