After receiving my blood work, my doc felt he could lower my mtx dosage by 2.5 mg. After about three months my knees,wrists and ankles hurt and i'm unable to do any aerobic walking. I have an appt. with the doc in a few weeks. Has anyone had a similar experience after having the dosage of a med reduced?
thanks, DON
Don~I have.
I've done amazingly well the last couple of years thanks to MTX & Humira. BUT....although I have reduced my MTX a couple times.....we've always increased a few months later.
I now take 25mg. I had to stop taking Humira due to some neruo problems; but shortly there after I had to increase my MTX to compensate.
At this time anything less than 25mg isn't working too well....and to be honest right now I'm not sure 25mg is going to be enough either.
Just because your blood work looks good doesn't nessesarilly mean you're going to be pain free. Thumbs up to your doc for trying to get you on a lower dose, but it just might not work. I'd suggest you ask your doctor to let you go back up before things get too far out of control.
What's the dose your on now exactly? Are you taking anything else?
Oh~also....I don't know how long it's been since you've decreased; but you might want to give it a little while and see if you come around. I have decreased before and after a couple weeks I seemed to adjust to it. Now if it's been a while and you just seem to be getting worse and worse I'd suggest you Tell not ask to be increased again.
Sometimes my doctor responds really well when I go in there with a "I know my body" attitude. He knows I've researched things and understand the medications. Seems like he's started respecting my opinion on things....and that's nice.
Hi Lovie,
Thanks for the reply. I was taking 17 mg of mtx and was than reduced to 15.5 mg. I'm not on any other kind of RA medication. I'm lucky i was able to get by on such a lite dosage and only taking one kind of RA med, but i think the RA is getting worse as time goes on and the doc is going to have to get me back up to the original dosage or change meds.
DON
Once I got to 17.5mg on MTX my doctor did insist that we add Humira. It was his opinion that a higher dose wasn't going to help me. I refused for a while insisting I could get by; but finally gave in after about 6 months.
Adding Humira did make a HUGE difference. It might be something to consider. I know it seems scary; but I had very little problems on it and was very happy with the results.
Don't wait too long before you make some changes. The longer you wait the longer it will take to get you back to where you hope to be.
Good Luck Don. I know trying to decide on a biologic....or even to take a biologic is scary. It might just be the best decision you've ever made.
Hope you're feeling better soon.