Hi all,
It's been a long time since I've posted. Hope everyone is having an RA "good" day.
I have a question that I was hoping someone might have some knowledge on. My mother has bad RA and is in a skilled nursing center. They goofed up (badly) and were giving her 7.5 mg of oral Mtx DAILY for almost 2 1/2 weeks!! She is very ill and has oral and esophageal ulcerations and has skin lesions on her back. I won't go into all the details because it would be very lengthy.....but the home doesn't seem to be doing anything about this except for discontinuing the Mtx. I have insisted that they do a CBC and LFTs. They came back within normal limits. I should have requested a BUN too and will ask for that. Would anyone else here happen to know about Mtx toxicity or overdose and what else I should attempt to have done for my mother? I seem to be all alone in this battle................
WOW! Whew...I am glad she is ok. Ask for a creatnine level with that BUN. I hope the heck they are hydrating her very well also. It will help get the toxins out of her system. Folic acid will get rid of the oral ulcers. It has to be prescribed because the dose she will need is more than what you can get over the counter. You might also want to consider a gastro consult for the esophageal ulcers. And a lawsuit and firing the idiots that let this continue on like this. Thank goodness you caught it. This just breaks my heart. This is supposed to be "skilled nursing" that she is getting. Please keep us updated on how she is doing. My best wishes to her and to you. I am glad your mom is okay but I have read that the damage from the MTX to the liver can happen later, doesn't have to show up right now. Have them treat your mom and then I second Grammaskittles. GET A LAWYER. You may need one if this has hurt her (which I hope it hasn't) and you need, in the future, to recover the costs associated with her extra care. I hope she does well. By the way, I used to work for a hospital. You aren't alone in the battle. Get a patient advocate and, if this is a facility that doesn't offer that service, bring in your own physician (at their expense) to examine and diagnose and, if necessary, have her moved until the danger has been resolved or has passed. Oh my gosh! I thank all of you so very much for the tips....about theleucovorin, folic acid etc... and about the possibility of delayed problems occuring because of this. I saw mom yesterday. She still doesn't feel well, but then she didn't feel well anyways so it's hard for me to tell what's because of this and what's her "normal" not feeling well. The mouth ulcers are healing, but still there. My sister is fighting me about this. I want to pursue forcing the home to provide additional care for her over this and my sister is afraid they'll get mad at us and kick mom out. She is on state aid and this home was actually pretty nice, so she's afraid that we'll be forced to put her into a dive. What a mess...... I wish I knew what the law was. I don't think they could just kick her out, but maybe so. I'm glad to be rejoining this community. My arthritis has been progressing and it's good to come here and read about all of your experiences and advice. I have procrastinated taking MTX for the past 7 years. Scared to death of it. I am managing on just Celebrex but the pain is not controlled very well with it anymore. And I am starting to see some damage/disfigurement in my fingers. I know I need a DMARD. Gotta work up the courage. Maybe I could try Plaquenil first. Geesh! I am so sorry to hear this. Get this...mom got several of her bills/statements for all the stuff she has had done and one of the billings was for a wheelchair for .00 billed to medicare and of course they are refusing to pay for it..dah, she never got a wheelchair from the podiatrist that cuts her toenails but the .00 is the amt. of th eoffice visit........I called the Podiatrist and it is nowhere on her chart so someone at the medicare office has royally screwed up! I am so sick of it..this happens constantly! I am with you on this, nobody ever pays attention to issues until one of us points it out. Crazy isn't it...what has our world come to that we have to monitor the system constantly and write down each visit and each medication taken when not in our home. And double check with the Dr. office because th einsurance cannot even get it right..and in your case, the facility cannot even get it right. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jode
overdose, but I can't remember it's name. A friend of mine is a
pharmacologist so sometimes we get together and he teaches me about the
different drugs I'm on. I remember he mentioned that about mtx.
Copyright ArthritisInsight.com