Sorry to ask this...........
OK - as you all probably know, Methotrexate can cause you to miss periods. I tend to have a period every three months or so (which is fine fine FINE with me....)... but when I get it - about a week before - I will get a flair from HELL. .
When I get my period - the flair subsides a lot, but it will still linger for a while. Then I'm "ok" for a while, and then I get another wicked flair, and then my period will come, and then I'll get better.
I feel better after the period because the bloating goes away (which makes my joints hurt MORE ...and the "menstral fatigue" isn't adding to the RA fatigue, but the flair itself is still there. It just seems to me that the period brings on the flair.
I've noticed this with the last 4 periods. (9-10 months) A pattern. I mentioned it to my rheumy and he dismissed it.
So - i'm wondering - do you have worse joint pain with your periods? Do you skip periods? and if you DO skip periods, are your RA symptoms worse when you DO get it? Sometimes, I will go three months with no period - and then spot for a couple days.. then go another three months, and bleed like a stuck pig for 2 weeks.
The ones where I spot for a couple days are the worst. It's like my body WANTs to bleed - but it wont - and it's fighting itself. THOSE are the flairs where I just want to die. I cannot walk, I cannot move my hands or my shoulders or my elbows... my SKIN hurts.. i have NO energy at all.. and I simply cannot function.
My tubes are tied. .... but I thought that maybe if I went on birth control to regulate my periods, and HAD a period every month - that maybe it wouldn't be so bad when I had one. My doctor thinks i'm crazy.
Am I making sense???? LOL
anyhow - thanks woobie
edited because I'm an idiot!
I haven't noticed a pattern....but I have been skipping periods in the last year. Not sure if it has to do with the methotexate or just the beginning of menopause since I'm 44. I have an app't for a physical exam on the 4th of March and I plan on talking to my doctor about my periods. Woobie, My rhuemy and everything I have read says that hormones play a BIG part in RA. They feel it is one of the triggers that causes RA. I was dx during menopause and when I would have a period I felt terrible.
Well I guess I will be on my way to finding out first hand how the BCpills and MTX work together... I was Rx'd MTX today and I am already on Orthotricycline-so we shall see in due time though I guess. I am a little nervous about the MTX. I hope I don't have any bad side effects.
HI I'm glad it isn't all in my head then. I'm ONLY 33 - no menapause here yet - hopefully. And - I'll make a confession -
quality time....... Woobie, Yes you better get your PAP etc.......I have one son out of home. Can't imagine having daughter with a period. I hear when two or more women live together they have their periods at the same time!!!!!! Talk about scarey
My two daughters have their periods at the same time, and when I DO have one - I'm right along with them usually........... at which point, my husband hides in his office for a week. All he asks is that we tell him when it's safe to come out.
sometimes, I have to go hide in there with him ..... the cat fights can be BRUTAL! woobie
I don't thing that my Rheumatologist ever got together with my Gynacologist but maybe they should have! The only time there was an oblique mention about hormones was when my Rheumatologist once told me, early on in my twenties, that maybe I should try for a football team as there was evidence that pregnancy stalled RA while pregnat, but that it could come back worse after! So, I hope that you find some relief for yourself, I truly know what you are going through. As others have suggested, I would aslo recommend going to see a Gynocologist. You seem to help a lot of others, I hope this helps you. Keep smiling[QUOTE=aurora7675]
Woobie, you have just described how I felt through most of my late 20's, the early to mid thirties, and my early 40's, and I couldn't have described it any better than you did! At age 34 I saw my Gynacologist, who eventually diagnosed me with PCOS, (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). I was told that to feel better and regulate my periods I would either have to start taking Birth Control Pills or start fertility treament as it's very difficult to get pregnant with PCOS. We opted for the latter, obviously coming off MXT for 6 months before and during all treatment. Fortunately for me the RA 'behaved' itself all the time I wasn't on MXT, and having read some of your replies that may well have been because I was pumping hormones into myself all that time. Unfortunately babies didn't happen for us and I gave up, aged 39. Sure enough though, within a couple of months I had to back on the MXT and again my periods were erratic, I once went for 128 days without one and the RA symptoms were horrendous on and off during that time, like when I should have been having the period, and just before I actually did, I didn't know what to do with myself. About 3-4 years ago I went back to the gynocologist again and she prescribed me Metformin, a drug primarily used by diabetics, as the PCOS is linked with the endocrine system as is diabetese and again, after looking at your replies this is all tied up with hormone production. I don't thing that my Rheumatologist ever got together with my Gynacologist but maybe they should have! The only time there was an oblique mention about hormones was when my Rheumatologist once told me, early on in my twenties, that maybe I should try for a football team as there was evidence that pregnancy stalled RA while pregnat, but that it could come back worse after! So, I hope that you find some relief for yourself, I truly know what you are going through. As others have suggested, I would aslo recommend going to see a Gynocologist. You seem to help a lot of others, I hope this helps you. Keep smiling
By the way, the Metformin DID regulate my periods, and although RA symptoms are always worse just before, they are no where near as bad as years ago, it's now just another one of those things that we have to put up with!
It's been 5 years since my last PAP. I don't HAVE a ob/gyn doc. LOL
I moved here 5 years ago - and havent found one.
woobie
and my arthritis symptoms have greatly improved, so i'm thinking that
hormones played a part in mine. i still have the pain, just not nearly as
bad. it has been absolutely wonderful, not having all the period problems
on top of everything else. I had a hysterectomy and I think I had RA at the time and the symptoms stopped. I agree with Pat, everything I have read and heard from the boards is hormones play a major role. I am hrt now and I think I flare if I forget to put my hormone patch on. I love it I had a hysterectomy too lorster. I had major pms and cramps. What a relief. I read somewhere people with ra are more likely to have had problems with their periods. Who would have thought
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