I just finished abx. and still have chest congestion,so my rheumy wants me to go off my mtx.and enbrel for two weeks and see her in two weeks. I havent yet had this disease undercontrol,but i am scared i will be unable to work,get out of bed or get worse than i was before. anyone else have to do this before?
kel
Kel,
I'm sorry I can't offer any help with this question as I've never had to take anything stronger than Naproxen. I am so sorry that you're feeling frightened about this right now. Have you talked about your concerns to your RD?
I am sorry, Kel. I hope it goes away soon, and you only have to be off your meds for 2 weeks. I am sure that 2 weeks will not revert you back that far or even make you worse. You should have enough Enbrel in ya to get you thru.
Here it is over 2 weeks for me without Humira, and I am doing ok, not as good as I would if I had Humira those 2 weeks, but it is managable. I use to freak when I had to go off due to bladder infections, because I was afraid I would revert back to the way I was before Humira, and I would be worse off, but that is not the case. You slowly revert back, well in my case it was.
Huggs & well wishes to ya!
Keep us posted on how your are doing.
Poor you Kel, I hate to think of you being scared. Thats the worst feeling. I've never had this happen to me so can't help you there. I have read on here where lots of people have to go off their meds because of an infection. I know Joonie and Pin have. I'm sorry and will be praying everything goes all right for ya. Try not to worry so much. Stressing will make things worse.
Linda
I was off MXT for 4 weeks and it took 3 weeks for me to start to feel a flare coming on. It hit in the 4th week. I restarted MXT the 5th week and am getting better. Took MXT yesterday and feel even better today. Think you can get by up to about 3 weeks. Take care, keep us posted, Lindyyour all sooo wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what i am mostly scared of is that the doc will take me off mtx for good because of my lung issues. and also i will not be able to work. I just hope im not going to be one of those people who continually get infections:(:(. I really have to learn to not get so dam stressed over everything! I wish i was a type B personality,and just let it all slide of my chest" no worries,no cares" But i am a total type A,have to be early to everything. worry over things i cannot change etc.
kel
Awww, sweetie; don't worry until you have to, 'kay? Just take one day at a time and trust in the good Lord to carry you through. Can't offer any advice, but I hope you are feeling better soon!Two weeks is not a long time to be off MTX especially - takes months to get out of your system. Enbrel has a shorter 'life span' than MTX.
Become a hand washer, never touch eyes, nose or mouth without washing first (or using hand sanitizer). It really helps me to stay well, I'm doing better on immune supressants with hand washing than I was doing before!
I sure hope you get better fast.
It's probable lasted as long as it has because you've continued on those meds while you had an infection. Truth is the doctor should have pulled you off of them the minute he suspected an infection.
You'll begin to improve once you are off of them. Another round of antibiotics will likely be nessesary. DMARDS like MTX & Bioligics especially slow the healing process dramatically. Have you noticed how much longer it takes a scratch to heal now? It's the same things with sinus infections as well as lung infections. Simple bronchitis can easily turn into pnemonia if you aren't careful.
It always takes several weeks to really make much difference being off. The sickest I've ever been on this stuff I had to be off everything for about 5 weeks. Slowly but surely I felt worse with each passing week but it wasn't until the 4th that I was really hating it. Hang in there.....and just keep telling yourself "I think I can, I think I can" you know the old story. Mind over matter....it really helps.
Feel better!