I am on Methotrexate(just two weeks) and freaking out about keeping my distance from those that are sick and what about those who got vaccinated? Like my kids? I have an 18 month who id due for shots next month? Will my husband have to take him and then take him to Grammies for the weekend? I am so afraid to get an infection and to stop the medicine .. My hands are starting to curl(just two .. one in each hand) and I know the medicine won't be working that strong yet? Any pointers for this one? This thing changes your whole life... I am so depressed:(
Beccy, You are talking extremes. Most vaccinations are dead and not contagious. Just wash your hands a lot and live life to the fullest. Most people on here are on mtx and those are the only precautions - wash your hands and keep one of those antibiotic lotions. Cheer up. I'm on MTX for 3 months, now, and I've never had so much as a cold, even when my husband and daughter did. As Roxy says, wash your hands really well. Try to be careful about being around people who sneeze, and then forget about it.Agree with the above. I have heard the same kinds of warnings about immunizations though. If you are concerned, a simple call to the doc should allow you to decide what to do. Washing your hands all the time is the best thing. If you do think you are getting a cold or infection, just see your GP early making sure that they know you have RA. Usually, if there is something, they just put you on an antibiotic. The key is catching it early and getting extra rest when you feel run down. That one is hard to learn and hard to do with little ones.
You can do things for your hands in the meantime. There are finger exercises that you can do to help keep them flexible. I still do mine (over six years). There might be some show at www.arthritis.org. You can use parafin baths (yes, the ones in Walmart). Soak your hands twice a day. This helps get that deep warmth into them and makes your hands wonderfully soft. They only cost about and are well worth it. Use sports creme during the day. It will help with pain and keep those hands moving. Also, be more gentle with your hands. If something is hard to open, get someone else to do it or use a proper tool.
Did you talk to your doc about your hands in particular? Sometimes, they don't pay attention to what is very obvious to you. If not, call the office and talk to the nurse about what you can do to maintain the function in your hands. Physical therapy and ultrasound might be some things they could try. They don't have to wait for the MTX to kick for that.
Also, did they do xrays on your hands. If you are just getting started, this is a very good idea, especially if you are already seeing changes.
Depression regarding these changes seems to be something we all share. The doctor can even help you with that. A lot of people are on some kind of antidepressant. It is very hard to have a chronic disease and very frustrating in the early stages when you are trying to figure it all out.
This is a very good place to come and talk about all these things. I love the people here.
I've been on MTX for 16 years, started 2 weeks after our youngest DD was born and never knew until reading your post that you had to be concerned about immunizations, went through both girls immunizations while on MTX. I did catch a couple of bad colds while the kids were little, especially the year I taught preschool, but I'm just real diligent about washing my hands and wiping everything down with those antibacterial wipes. My family totally ignores my pleas to wash and use the wipes so I just do it myself whenever someone in the house is sick and they're sick a lot more than I am.I agree with the others, relax, your risks are not that increased. That is for people take a dose 25X higher than what most RA pts. take. You still need to check with the doc before you receive a vaccination though.Yeah!
That is a milestone... I can actually relax about something here at least a bit!!!
Took week 3 and feeling great. I don't want to cancel out everything in my kids lifes... I was active in the school's committees and I am thinking I am going to have to just be out of the community contact for the rest of my life. I am a stay at home mom so I would love to keep active in some things. Just have to stop freaking out about this and wash hands.
Thanks everyone... You all made my night!
I work in the health field and I handle all kinds of things that are coated with germs. I have RA and I'm on mtx too. The best thing that you can do is wash your hands. I use a antibaterical soap and warm water. I make sure that I get soap on all of my hand surfaceand work up a good lather. I rinse and rinse again. When i dry my hands, I use a paper towel to dry them. You will be surprise on how germy that cloth towel can get. As long as I keep my hands washed, I've had no major problems. The other thing, when someone has a cold, I wear disp. gloves when dumping the trash into my big trash bag. I don't want to touch dirty tissues with bare hands. Plus I use those antibaterial wipes to wipe down the waste paper baskets in between washing them when they are dirty. This is the only thing that I've change since getting RA and going on mtx. I refuse to change everything and give up doing things because I may get sick. Life is too short as it is.
Marisa Beccy alot of us here work with the public, and there are some here in the medical field. I am an ER nurse. I am around sick people all of the time. My doc said I didnt need to worry about getting sick any more than before. I have been on MTX for 5 months and Enbrel for about 1 month. No probs so far.
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