If I was in your place and I was still having such a bad cough today; then I would go to the ER (you need a chest x-ray). If you can wait, then I would call the primary on Monday and tell them to give you a script to have a chest x-ray done. You are your own advocate....don't let your primary make you wait to see him/her....demand an x-ray ASAP.

Depending on your insurance, the office can fax the script to the radiology center.

I, TOO, HAD A BAD COUGH. I STOPPED THE DICOFENAC (VOLTAREN) AND IN 2 DAYS THE COUGH STOPPED. STAY OFF THE MTX FOR A FEW DAYS AND SEE IF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

You want to rule out pneumonia...regular anti-biotics will not treat it

thanks Pearl..Im gonna try to hold off till monday to demand xray from primary, it seems not so bad during the day as night when Im lying down in bed...last night I couldnt catch my breath at times I coughed so hard. going through the internett about mtx side affects and came across some lung diseases caused by mtx. and causes from R.A. making my appt for pulmonary dr monday as well.I guess Ill try sleeping in my chair tonight to see if that helps till then.I really cant afford the 65 dollar copay with my new insurance and finding one on my Hmo list. Thanks for your help.

I really hope stopping the mtx HELPS...I ve read so many things on the internett that Im praying its not a big issue, I used to smoke so thats a factor too...with pneumonia, I read it comes with a fever which I have not had.but all the other symptoms were similier...cant wait to get to the bottom of this and start feeling better again. thanks everybody !!

Tina, please don't take this the wrong way regarding your rheumatologist. Mine would have done EXACTLY like yours did. But, after the liver ordeal, I'm glad that is how he'd do it. My Rheum. says he isn't the expert at all except in rheumatology. When something appears out of his specialty, he refers to another specialist if needed. If you told your rheum doc that you'd been to primary, then maybe she was smart to send you to a specialist and in the meantime, if it's methotrexate, going off of it will show a noticeable improvement in the next two weeks.
That's how long it took for the lisinopril cough I had to start subsiding. I don't know how long methotrexate lasts in the body though. In the case of my liver, it took over a month to get better.

Maybe you can go back to your primary doc for xrays though. That would made sense I think. I would be disappointed in my primary doctor for not digging further each time you come back. One thing they CAN do is culture your sputum and see if anything grows. If it's fungi, well, those antibiotics aren't going to touch it.

I really hope you feel better soon. And I hope you can get your lung appt moved to a quicker date!

thanks bcatz, your right about the specialists being different fields and different ailments. it gets to a point that being positive just dont work anymore. and as someone pointed out to me earlier, I wish we could have one dr that could take care of everything without all this wondering and crazy madness of our ailments as they arise. ..I do feel better than I did earlier. and yes Im asking firmly to pcp to give me xrays and tests....praying for a better day tomorrow!!! thanks again Tina

RA can also cause pulmonary nodules and your x rays will allow your primary to rule that out as well as pneumonia. Your primary can review the results provided by the radiologist and it's possible that your lungs are clear and you won't need to see a lung specialist. Most of the problems that we develop are @aused by our immune system and not the medications..but you have to stay aware of changes. In your body and pushing your PCP to have it ruled out with testing.

I've had pneumonia and my doctor was sure that it was a bad cold...I pushed for x rays and it saved my life because it went on for weeks..this was in 1999. I pushed to see a pulmonary doctor and he diagnosed my pulmonary nodules.

Good luck