the side effects were so ba d last week that ive told the hospital that i cant take the dosage they are giving me - headache nausea - so this week i am not taking anything and restarting the mtx pills 15mg next week. they are sending me another appointment for the rheumy.
if i cant take the higher dosage of mtx they will want to add another med or change med i expect, from what ive read its probably arava.
anna_uk
Hi Anna....have you tried plaquenil or sulfasalazine or both with the mtx?hi kelstev - i tried plaquenil but had problems with it but not sulfazalazine (?) - though i have a friend w ho has had terrible problems with the sulfa one which is a bit scary. anna_uk
What sort of side effects did you have? I do the shot and get super dizzy and nauseous afterwards but try to go to sleep and usually feel better the next day although the day after that, I'm so tired I sleep most of the day.michele, about 10 hours after the shot i get a dull throbbing headache - bit like migraine. Went to bed with some pain relief but woke up with it still there. lasted six days with pain relief on and off, and feeling bad, also after about 24 hours nausea kicked in and stayed. drinking lots of water helped but it was still there. i also got a very bad upset stomach about 5 days after shot but rheumy thinks this was something else - i don;'t think so, i think this was the shot too. i also got chills in my legs (strange!!!). and that's taking the folic acid as well! anna_uk
Well, that sounds pretty sucky!
I too suffer from migraines that are mostly hormonal. I was just recently reading that taking riboflavin(a b vitamin) daily can help and even eliminate them. I am going to give it a try. Anything to get rid of them! Just thought I'd pass it on.
Laura
Dehydration can cause severe headaches. Maybe try a sports type drink
I took the MTX shots for two years. The folic acid rescue failed pretty quickly so I switched to Leucovorin. It was ok. Still had the nausea and some hairloss. I stopped the MTX altogether because it just wasn't working for me.
I had no big side effect troubles on an Arava or Plaquenil.
Speaking of terrible headaches, that's what sulfa drugs do to me. I'm allergic to sulfa, or sensitive to it anyway. No sulfasalazine or celebrex for me.
That's interesting about the vit b and migraines, never heard that before. I was taking extra b vits on top of my regular vits but the rheumy said to stop because my levels were actually too high.
I had my first migrain this past August. I seem to get them usually when I have my periods so I started piggy backing bc pills but that only works for a few months. I still get one or two a month but they don't seem as bad if I take a relpax right away. Do you take any prescription meds for the migraines?