NEW TO THIS HELP PLEASE

> HI I AM JOHN, JUST GIVEN THE NEWS BY DR THAT I HAVE ARTHRITIS AND NOW
> NEED TO MAKE DECISION ON MEDICINES. SHE WANTS ME TO START ON CHEMO DRUG
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> THANKS JOHN

What type of arthritis? Which medications are being proposed?

Signature

spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

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spodosaurus - 07 Jun 2005 19:01 GMT

>> HI I AM JOHN, JUST GIVEN THE NEWS BY DR THAT I HAVE ARTHRITIS AND NOW
>> NEED TO MAKE DECISION ON MEDICINES. SHE WANTS ME TO START ON CHEMO DRUG
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> What type of arthritis? Which medications are being proposed?

PS- I won't be replying to that email address as it just smacks of a
spam harvesting address I've seen...

Signature

spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

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Harvey R. Stone - 08 Jun 2005 02:13 GMT

> PS- I won't be replying to that email address as it just smacks of a spam
> harvesting address I've seen...

Ohhh, Thanks but I was sorry to read that.
Harv

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spodosaurus - 10 Jun 2005 05:07 GMT

>>PS- I won't be replying to that email address as it just smacks of a spam
>>harvesting address I've seen...
>
> Ohhh, Thanks but I was sorry to read that.
> Harv

He's replied to me personally, so I think this email might be okay
(sorry for my delayed response, I've been in hospital most of this week).

I have to reiterate my questions to John: what specific type of
arthritis have you been diagnosed with and what medications are you
being prescribed or are being suggested that you take?

Signature

spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Reply to this Message

Harvey R. Stone - 10 Jun 2005 12:44 GMT

> He's replied to me personally, so I think this email might be okay (sorry
> for my delayed response, I've been in hospital most of this week).
>
> I have to reiterate my questions to John: what specific type of arthritis
> have you been diagnosed with and what medications are you being prescribed
> or are being suggested that you take?

Sorry to read that you have been in the hospital all week. I hope that
good things come from it and life smoothes out for you .

Harv

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spodosaurus - 10 Jun 2005 14:06 GMT

>>He's replied to me personally, so I think this email might be okay (sorry
>>for my delayed response, I've been in hospital most of this week).
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Harv

Thanks Harv, but the only smoothing out I'll be getting is if I survive
the transplant. Which, oddly enough, means for a brief time I'll be on
one of the drugs that John (the OP for this thread) has started:
Methotraxate (MTX). He's concerned about it's use and dosage and the
side effects. As I have yet to use this drug, I wonder if any RA
sufferers (like John, and perhaps me - we're thinking I may have a
sero-negative form of arthritis to add to everything else) could offer
some of their experiences for John, who has been emailing me at my
yahoo.com address. Perhaps I should start a new branch of this thread?
Yes, I think that might work better.

Ari

Signature

spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Reply to this Message

> HI I AM JOHN, JUST GIVEN THE NEWS BY DR THAT I HAVE ARTHRITIS AND NOW
> NEED TO MAKE DECISION ON MEDICINES. SHE WANTS ME TO START ON CHEMO DRUG
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> THANKS JOHN

Hi John,,, Most of us that have inflam.arth. have done what you are going to
do..... You will do well.
Harv

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> HI I AM JOHN, JUST GIVEN THE NEWS BY DR THAT I HAVE ARTHRITIS AND NOW
> NEED TO MAKE DECISION ON MEDICINES. SHE WANTS ME TO START ON CHEMO DRUG
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> THANKS JOHN

Hi all,

John has been diagnosed with RA and is worried about being started on
methotrexate (MTX). Can anyone here share some of their experiences with
this medicaiton with him? It might also be a good idea to email him and
remind him to have a look at the news group for replies.

Ari

Signature

spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Reply to this Message

Nann Bell - 10 Jun 2005 16:45 GMT

[[ This message was both posted and mailed: see
the 'To' and 'Newsgroups' headers for details. ]]

[posted and emailed]

John, there's a lot that can be said about methotrexate. First of all, the
doses which are prescribed for RA are much lower than the doses they use for
chemo so the incidence and severity of side effects is also much lower. My
dad was among the first wave of patients to take mtx for RA - and took the
pills. He was on it for 25 years when he died (of unrelated causes). He
never had any side effects or problems with taking it.

I've been on the pills for 4 years now myself. I have some fatigue for the
first 24 or so hours after each dose, but have had no other side effects.
Other possible common side effects are nausea and/or headaches. Drinking
lots of water the day you take mtx helps with both of those side effects.

Taking mtx by injection also helps a lot with the side effect of nausea as
the med bypasses your stomach that way. Also, injections are slightly more
effective than pills, again because it doesn't have to go through your
stomcah.

Mtx is rough on your liver. Because of this, it is important not to drink
alcohol while you are on this med. Your doctor should have you getting
labwork to check your liver function every couple of months as long as you
are on mtx. If your liver is doing fine, your doc may allow an occasional
drink, but that is at your doctor's discretion. (I can have one/month, but
after several years on more liver damaging meds, I'm out of the habit and
keep forgetting!)

Ummm, what else? Oh, most docs start you at 7.5 mg/week and slowly increase
your dose until you reach an effective level. The reasons for doing it this
way is that it allows your body to adjust somewhat to the medicine so any
side effect you may experience aren't as severe and it allows you and your
doc to find the lowest effective dose for you. Most people have said they
don't detect any effect on their RA until they reach the 15 mg/week level
and, generally, have been there for 3-4 weeks, so don't be discouraged
when/if it takes a while to see good results.

Oh, and mtx depletes your body of folic acid so you'll also be given folic
acid supplementation to take with it. There are a variety of ways to do this
and your doc will direct you to his or her preferred way. You definitely
need this folic acid supplementation with the mtx.

That's allI can think of for now. Others will probably weigh in with their
comments, but many people are quite busy right now so it may take a while.
Check the newsgroup occasionally over the next few days for more replies.
Mtx has been a great help to a great many people with their RA. I hope this
is the case for you also!

Signature

Nann
remove the Gator cheer to email me
Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

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Smokie Darling (Annie) - 10 Jun 2005 19:26 GMT

> [[ This message was both posted and mailed: see
> the 'To' and 'Newsgroups' headers for details. ]]
[quoted text clipped - 50 lines]
> remove the Gator cheer to email me
> Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

Wow, Nan, you covered alot of the bases for MTX (the drug *I* love to
hate). The only additional stuff I'd add:

I don't get nausea, thank Heaven. However, I did have a problem with
diarrhea. Doc fixed that by splitting the dosage, I take 4 pills in
the am and 4 pills in the pm on the same day (doc said it *had* to be
within 24 hours).

I don't get the exhausted feeling, but that could be because I drink a
minimum of 128 ounces of water every day (I live in a very dry
environment). I have a 32 ounce cup that is strictly Annie's water
cup.

I do have a problem with mouth sores, that comes around every May and
lasts to mid June then goes away until the next year. If that's a
problem, ask your doc about the mouth wash, apparently there is a
prescription "rinse" that takes care of the sores.

I couldn't say that it helps, but when I went off of it (for surgery),
I knew I was missing my MTX. So it may not be noticeable, but trust
that it *is* working.

Smokie Darling (Annie) - on MTX since 1999 (with a 6 month break)

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