Okay...Tried the MTX pills and made me so sick to my stomach (enough that I was throwing up) so RA Dr wanted to try the injections. This morning was my first injection. I got it at 8am and came to work and at about 10 I started feeling like I am DRUNK!! My body feels like it weighs about a ton and I have no muscle tone. I feel like a pile of mush. I am also dizzy, nausuas, headache and like I said feel just plain drunk. Called the RA Dr's office and told the nurse and she said she would tell the Dr and call me back. She calls me back and tell me that the Dr said that this is not a MTX reaction and I need to get to my GP or Emergency room. Well, I go to GP and had to see someone new as my dr was out of the office for the day. He said he could not see anything wrong with me that would cause me to feel this way and then said that if I feel like this next week with the 2nd injection that I would know it was the MTX. I am thinking and you make how much a year?
Anyone with thoughts or expierences like this?
I took nothing that I have not been taken for over a year now except the MTX injection.
I'd say it's likely the MTX. I take the pills but I know early on when I first started taking it I felt like i was hung over from a long night of partying.
I started early on taking mine on Saturday night and sleep through a lot of the side effects that I don't notice while sleeping; but would be hell at work.
I'd advise you to take your next dose late on Friday evening and then you'll have Saturday and Sunday at home to just be lazy and feel better before work on Monday.
Hope you're feeling better soon and hope the injections work for you. MTX has been the best medication for me yet and I highly recommend it; but there are some that just can't take it period. Hope you won't be one of those.
Let us know how it goes next week.
ALSO: try to remember that RD's prescribe these medications but they have no idea how they actually feel. All they have to go on is what folks have reported to him before. Chances are high that no one has ever described things the way you did.
They only give out the MTX shots on Tuesday's so i can't get it on Friday. It has been so tuff sitting here at work all day. I just want to crawl into bed so bad.It might be something you might want to consider. When I first started using MTX I could hardly get a shower and get dressed in the morning let alone work.
You need to start out taking it on a weekend. At least until you adjust.
Yes I'm going into the office to get it. I might ask about doing it at home next week. I just stopped on my way to work this morning and got it. I did like the fact that my doctor came out of her office and talked to me even though I was just there to get the injection from the nurse.
I just can't give up work yet as that would mean selling my horses and besides my kids they are my life and keep me moving.
It does make a lot of people sick in the beginning and most adjust. Some don't though. I agree with Lovie that doing it on the weekend is the way to go. Have them teach you how to self inject. It's really not that bad, certainly not as bad as facing a day of work afterwards. Just prepare your family that you might have side effects and will be really tired. If it starts to feel scary or the bad symptoms continue, call your doc again.
Hopefully those that have been allergic to it will speak up about what to look for.
Hi Brenna. I think self injecting on your days off is a good idea. I am just starting Enbrel injections so we can jump online after our first one and say "I did it"!
I hope the MTX side effects ease off for you soon.
I still get nauseated from the pills for a day but not as bad as at first.
Brenna, because someone else is giving you the injection I would want to be sure that it was indeed MTX. Feeling drunk, etc. is a strange side effect. I use the liquid, but I swallow it with a beverage of choice. I use Pepsi. I also take extra folic acid before, load up on lots of water and eat extra carbs. And I take it at night and that works for me. I do have fatigue, but can still function if I have to. MTX is a good med for RA, so hope you can tolerate it.Although my doctor has taken me off of it now; I took Humira weekly. My husband always did them for me. I did it once by myself; so I know I could do it if I had to.
It's really not that bad and in this situation I think you'd find a Friday night injection preferrable at least for a while until you adjust. I really don't react bad to MTX now; but when I did I took it early on the weekend and just told myself I was going to veg all weekend. Get your chores done on Thursday night and you can relax all weekend. You might feel bad part of that time.....and just tired or lazy the rest. But once you just commit yourself to the fact that the weekend is for rest it becomes like a little mini vacation. I had gotten to where I really looked forward to the "Me" time. I'd take hot baths, read, knit.....Sleep; watch SoapNet from bed all day. And my family will pop in and out knowing that this is what I'm doing (ORDER A PIZZA FOR CRYING OUTLOAD!!) you aren't doing laundry, cooking.....or anything that isn't totally selfish.
I've adjusted well to MTX; but I still use this tactic on the weekends quite often. It gives me a change to revant from a long week and get ready to do it all over again next week. I honestly believe this method has helped me continue to stay active; yet get the rest RA requires MTX or not.
Lovie that is so true. You are a lady that is well balanced! Good thinking and good juggling.OK I took MTX and had a severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, an over all feeling like someone ran me over with a truck. I also broke out in hives all over my face, the bends of my joints, like my legs and elbows. My dr took me off because of the allergic reaction. Alot of people here take it with good results. I am allergic to so much stuff so it's nothing new for me. I agree with everyone though try to take it on the weekend. I hope you get better soon!!
CinDee
Thank you everyone that gave me input. Still feeling the same. Wishing someone would just shoot me and put me out of my missery but I do think it would help if my head would just go ahead and explode. My arms and legs feel so heavy and why is the room spinning? Ohhh I think I am gonna be sick.
Again thanks to all.