Newbie Introduction

[pitzerja]

I've been reading posts and am very happy to be here!

I am 37, married, and have an awesome 6 year old son. I have had psoriasis since I was 13 and was diagnosed with PA at 26. I was just precribed methotrexate and came here to do some research because it sounds pretty scary.

I used to work in the financial services industry, but have been out of work since Feb. 2006. I was having weird health issues that I tried to get diagnosed, but was informed by the docs that I was "fine". I kept pushing myself to function until I became so worn down that I began experiencing mental confusion, dizziness, blacking out, and losing feeling in my body. After that I got lots of diagnoses including depression, fibromyalgia, and neurally-mediated hypotension. Unfortunately, I also have chronic sinus infections too, blah.

I am very much an optimist, I'm not a hypochondriac and I hate being "sickly" in anyway. That being said I hate my psoriasis (scalp, ears, torso, elbows, legs, feet, etc.) and I am so tired of being in pain most of the time. I really try not to complain, but my husband can see my face contort in pain when I move after sitting too long or when I get out of bed. After after years of NSAIDs, my rheum just prescribed methotrexate. I haven't filled the prescription yet, but I after reading on here today I am going to give it a chance.

Not that I'd wish this crap on anyone else, but thanks to everyone for your posts, support, and words of encouragement to each other... it was really nice to find it here! :)

Uh oh, no spell check???

[moe34]

first off welcome! I am in the same boat as you that I was experiecning weird symptoms but my doctor seemed to think I was fine, it took going to the ER to finally get somewhat of a diagnosis, I had psorasis but was not aware of the arthritic part of it! Then I started seeing the rheumotologist, I was scared to death to go on anything, I started off with sulfasalzine which seemed to help with the PA but did nothing for the psorasis on my scalp. I finallly decided to try the methotrexate, I started off on the lowest dose and have worked my way up to actually using the injectable form of it. I have not experienced any strange side effects and my blood work always comes back fine, no problems. And it almost totally cleared up the scalp psorasis. I am 34 and have a six year old daughter and a 21 month old son, so beleive me when I say I was nervous about going on something like methotrexate when I read about all the potential side effects. But, I thought it was important to give a positive story about the methotrexate! Hope everything works out for you and you are not alone in being wary of trying any of these drugs!

[kestrel2008]

Don't be afraid of the drugs.. they make life better.

Better living through science is my motto!

A hint: Folic acid helps with some of the MTX side effects... make sure you take it or a vitamn.. it really helps. ( A lesson that I was slow to learn)

[RichJ]

hi pitzerja,
sorry i can't help much but welcome to the p family. you have meet some of the wounderful people on here and will find alot of great info. welcome and nice to meet you.

have a good weekend all

richard

[princesstwinsmom]

I started MTX in March and had a pretty quick response to it clearing up all my psoriasis - gotta love that! About two weeks into it, I had to start taking folic acid because I developed mouth sores. I don't have any areas of psoriasis now and my PA pain has decreased, although not enough so just started Enbrel last week (waiting to see how that's going to work out).

Good luck to you!

[easydoesit]

Hi pitzerja. I too dislike the idea of medications and have gotten by on nsaids for several years, but I'm now at the point where I feel like I need to do something.

It's definitely not been without a lot of soul searching and serious consideration. I chose to try Enbrel instead of mtx because I am afraid of liver damage from mtx as I had a relative die from cancer that spread to the liver (totally unrelated to mtx, this person was never on mtx and didn't have PA). I don't even know if that's a rational concern but when I read about liver damage that's all I can think of, and I need to feel comfortable about what I'm taking.

[1WeekAtATime]

I'm really lucky to just have P on my scalp (however untreatable it may be), but I recently have discovered my PA.

I've used Enbrel when steroid injections didn't work for my P, but had injection site reactions. If only I could have it administered another way...

Right now, I'm deciding what to do next. I went to a psoriasis specialist, and was hurriedly on my way to taking MTX, but I got cold feet. The drug really seems to have some scary drawbacks... I didn't see the liver biopsy part mentioned on here yet!

I think different drugs have different helpfulness levels for P and PA. Enbrel and Humira might not help the P as much. MTX doesn't even say it's for PA- just severe P and RA, if I'm correct.

Also, you might want to look into what works best long-term. Some of these posts talk about someone being on Remicade or Enbrel and having it stop working. These are the things I'm taking into account right now for lifelong treatment. I wish you the very best, and don't forget to look at the websites for each drug. It's smart not to make really fast decisions, even if your doctor wants you to sometimes. They might trust MTX because it's been around for a long time, but keep asking MTX patients for their input, and you'll do fine, I'm sure.

[pitzerja]

I started the MTX last night and so far I'm feeling OK - a little bit of a sour stomach, but nothing I can't deal with.

I hope it works out, the thought of having "nice" skin and much less pain is like a fantasy for me!!!

Thanks for the warm welcomes and words of wisdom!
Jen