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...
As you all know I was planning on taking my first dose of MTX on Friday night so if I felt bad a day or two after I would be off work. Well I started it tonight after all.
I came home early from work today because I was exhausted. Luckily, my job allows me to work from home once in awhile. I was home working on the computer and my right hand/wrist really started to hurt so I stopped. I ended up taking an hour nap.
When I woke up my right wrist and hand hurt really bad and was noticably swollen. Not red or hot though. I cannot bend the wrist down. It hurts to try but I physically cannot make it bend down. What the heck?
Do any of you have problems with waking up with unexpected pains in different places? This is the worst it has been but I have noticed that all my joints ache everyday but one always seems to be worse then all the others. It seems to change almost daily or at least every other day.
So, this scares me and I decided to start the MTX tonight instead of waiting until Friday. I know it won't start working right away and it really doesn't matter if I would have wait 2 more days but at least I feel like I am doing something to fight this!
I came home early from work today because I was exhausted. Luckily, my job allows me to work from home once in awhile. I was home working on the computer and my right hand/wrist really started to hurt so I stopped. I ended up taking an hour nap.
When I woke up my right wrist and hand hurt really bad and was noticably swollen. Not red or hot though. I cannot bend the wrist down. It hurts to try but I physically cannot make it bend down. What the heck?
Do any of you have problems with waking up with unexpected pains in different places? This is the worst it has been but I have noticed that all my joints ache everyday but one always seems to be worse then all the others. It seems to change almost daily or at least every other day.
So, this scares me and I decided to start the MTX tonight instead of waiting until Friday. I know it won't start working right away and it really doesn't matter if I would have wait 2 more days but at least I feel like I am doing something to fight this!
It is also surprising that some nights pass without any issues at all and that these pain free nights sometimes join together in something called a week or even longer.........!
Agree re the RA pain flitting about. It is supposed to match itself in paired joints. This isnt quite how it has worked out for me. EG at the beginning pain in all sorts of places but then it seemed to settle down to being definitely "sided" the right shoulder/elbow/wrist/digits but left knee/ankle.
For me it has settled down for systematic attack in one joint before moving on. I dont think my right shoulder will ever work properly again. After seven years like this RA is now thumping the left side flitting about the wrist/elbow/shoulder (with the right side still getting pains of varying kinds)
Maybe others have this sided developing symptoms.
The only good thing I can say is that with RA it does come and go. I know for the next month it will be painful. The change in seasons (spring to summer especially )brings lots of weather fronts here and they are my biggest trigger. Winter not nice either.... By working out any patterns like this at the very least you are prepared.
I still believe that "stuff" I do for myself helps but it may be all in my mind. eg. no gluten, exercising very regularly when I can even if it means limping between car and gym and missing out some machines.
When to take mtx.? In better times I have spread out my dose a little more than instructed by the rheumy. Such a poison so felt if all going well I would take it a day or three later. With my memory I needed to write it down.
Nowadays I take it on same day and try all sorts of things. Been getting bad reaction day after in spite of Vit C which seemed to help for a while. Now back to spreading out dose during the day and taking two nights of liver cleanse tablets the two nights before the dose. Kidding (or otherwise) myself that this is helping.....
We all muddle along as best we can. In the long term it is a downhill slide but I still believe that there are positives in the improvement from the pain at initial diagnosis and a return to life functioning along with decreased pain. Compare this to what happened in the old days to sufferers ...... And there are always new drugs coming along - if you can get them.