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 started MTX three weeks ago and am taking folic acid with it as well as omeprazole. Does anyone recommend any other vitamins or supplements? I caught a cold last week and I'm still battling it. I understand my immune system is now compromised being on MTX. Does anyone take a multivitamin? Additional vitamin C? Would it help at all? I'm newly diagnosed and still figuring all this out. A friend of mine who is a PCP suggested a probiotic and I'm going to add that in. Just wondering if additonal vitamins have helped anyone. Thank you for your help! I'm open to any suggestions. Fortunately I have not yet experienced any side effects from MTX.
So here's yet another confusing spot. So our immune systems are "overactive" so we take medication to suppress them, right? So wouldn't taking a supplement or eating foods that boost the immune system be counter productive & then make the medication less effective??
Rather than supplements pay more attention to washing your hands and staying away from germs.
the dmards, I think are less restrictive. the whole world ra included could probably benefits from probiotics. from a pill swallowing standpoint whatever you can stomach that the rheum is in concert with
depot
darwin, if you experience nausea with MTX be careful about using ginger to settle your stomach....too much and you'll be constipated beyond belief. If you do become constipated, 6 oz of "from the press" apple juice morning and evening keeps the train running on time. Specifically, from the press, not from concentrate. Whitehouse is the brand I buy.
The supplements I take are not intended to do anything combating the disease but to keep the meds from draining my system. Also, as much as I hate yogurt, if/when you have to take antibiotics you'll need something to start replacing all the good stuff in your gut the antibiotics killed along with the bad stuff it killed.
Leave it to you! I never thought of it that way. Oh crap. OK who has a Dr appt next that can ask?
I take a multi-vitamin when I remember. I take folic daily with my Xeljanz (just so I remember to take it). I also take omeprazole, but just on Wed & Sat & that seems to be enough for my heartburn. I think I started taking it for something else, but honestly can't remember. :)
the issue that the rheum had is when I was swallowing echinacea to voo doo / ward off the one million infections I get a year. she told me that it interfered, with, at that time, i think it was humira or orencia I was on can't remember which one.
that was the springboard for writing them all down and handing them to her (those of you that have 20 of them on the counter for the AM anyway).
notice how if you have to have surgery that cessation of all meds incuds all herbs, supplements, and vitamins pre-op? i'm not anti supplement in any way shape or form. i just discuss/disclose with the rheumatologist. i don't bore the crap out of her - i just have them all on one piece of paper and i attach it to the med list that we review every appointment, anyway. your primary might want to know also.
depot
Think about it.....what if you needed emergency surgery? Are you willing to risk it all just for woo that you may not even need?
When I was 21, I was in the hospital. The hospital food gave me a B vitamin deficiency, noticed and reported by a nurse. The doctor did nothing about it. So I had someone bring me Engivita yeast, a potent source of B vitamins. The mouth sores cleared up within a few days. I've been taking it ever since.
Gradually, I noticed more deficiencies. So yes, I added more and more supplements. I am not going off of them, they keep me alive, give me energy. I had migraines in the early 2000's for example. That was because grapefruit and oranges, which I used as a source of vitamin C, triggered my stomach, which had been damaged by prednisone and oral mthx., so I stopped eating citrus fruit.
Next thing you know, I had scurvy. Yep! I needed to become a "limey." Both my dentist and family doc had to look up the symptoms, because they had never seen a case - you know, the teeth getting loose, gum issues, the cork screw hairs on the legs, in spite of a decent diet. I was even eating vegetables which were supposed to have vitamin C. No help. I finally went back to grapefruit after getting on some other supplements that helped my stomach. Now, I am fine.
Then there are bones. - between the lack of exercise these last two years,, and the prednisone that actually drains calcium out of the bones. I need to get a bone density test, I am waiting to be phoned for the appointment. I take every mineral and vitamin known to help bone density. We will see if I am worse or not!
Iron - I'm in deficiency right now, on supplements. I always know, because I get Restless Legs Syndrome when the iron is down.
Minerals - I do take electrolytes if I am sweating a lot. But lots of every mineral daily as a supplement.
D & A - in Canada, D supplementation is mandatory according to Health Canada. But my rheumatologist told me to take a lot more than the recommended maximum. I also discovered I do not get colds or flus with adequate Vitamin A and zinc supplementation - this going back at least 20 years.
I'm not saying this is for everyone, I just know it is vital for me. I don't really trust docs that much these days. Especially after this very young orthopedic surgeon replaced my 87 mom's knee a week and a half ago. The surgery was necessary and physically she is healthy. She didn't die, but she simply has too much dementia for this to have been done. I just took care of her for 6 days, and it is going to take weeks for me to recover! She had her hip replaced back when she was in her late 60's and she did well - not complaining about anything, no threats to kill herself, or wishing she had not done the surgery.
Let's face it, although docs. are there to help us, they are also in it to make money. Sorry for being jaded. I just don't trust docs so much these days.
depot
I was also thinking that it is likely my body doesn't absorb vitamins well. I had pneumonia as a baby, put on antibiotics. This happened to one of my sons, and I had to supplement him, but never the other kids. Although he is well today. I also had pneumonia and bronchitis over and over in the late 80's and early 90s, and probably ruined my digestive track when that happened. That was also allergy related, and something to do with my having my 4th child and it altering my hormones, according to my allergist. And the allergy shots that probably triggered RA.
We should be careful about herbs, and also not getting too much fat soluable vitimans like A & D. Hmm, maybe I need to cut back on A & D for my liver, so I can stay on mthx? And so the juggling game continues!