petal
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Posts: 20
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Post by petal on Jan 21, 2015 7:15:30 GMT -5
I have psoriatic arthritis, and have been following AIP for about 6 weeks now. I didn't tolerate Sulfazalazine (severe vomitting) and didn't like the way I felt on prednisone at all (the pain is at a manageable level without anything). I was prescribed Arava (leflunomide) in November but chose not to take it due to side effects and the fact that we're not 100% sure we don't want another child. I saw the rheumatologist again today; since I have active inflammation in several joints, she's keen for me to start methotrexate injections ASAP. She's never heard of AIP (her dietary advice would be avoid wheat and animal fat!!!), but would be happy for me to stay on it. We've left it that I need to think it over, as I'd really like to give AIP another couple of months to try and sort this out.
Does anyone have any experience of MTX helping/hindering with PsA?
I'm also going to be seeing a Dr who practises a wide variety of alternative therapies (but is also a conventionally trained MD), including mitochondrial medicine and nutritional therapy, so maybe he'll be able to shed some more light on the whole thing.
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Post by Erin on Jan 21, 2015 23:57:54 GMT -5
I'd definitely have a pow-wow with your other doctor and weigh out all your options. Then hopefully you can have your own team of doctors supporting you on your healing journey.
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melw66
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Posts: 4
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Post by melw66 on May 28, 2015 2:24:21 GMT -5
I was on methotrexate for 6 years for Lichen Planus. I started with 15mg 1x week, but was able to reduce to 5mg per week within a year. However, methotrexate is really tough on your liver. I was diagnosed with Stage 3 fibrosis of the liver earlier this year - due to methotrexate! Needless to say, I stopped the mtx. And that is what brought me to the AIP. My dermatologist offered 2 alternatives, both of which I turned down. She was really worried that I would develop the symptoms again within 2-3 weeks of stopping mtx, but now, 7 weeks later on the AIP, no symptoms have returned. Methotrexate is the best known drug treatment for many Auto-Immune conditions, and it does stop or slow down the symptoms in most cases. But at what cost? I would think seriously about whether this is the best option for you, and what the alternatives are. Incidentally, regular LFTs are a good way to measure how your liver is doing, but they don't measure the fibrosis. My LFTs had been slowly getting worse, but still weren't off the charts according to the dermatologist. IT was only when she sent me for a fibroscan that we discovered just how bad it was - 89%. Not far away from being irreversible cirrhosis. We were lucky to catch it in time.
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