I've been on/still on slow release anti-inflammatories, codeine,
paracetamol, plaquenel, prednisalone on and off but despite all these my
pain is escalating above and beyond the levels where the drugs are
effective; I also take omega 3 capsules everyday; my energy level is
practically non-existent but I can't seem to get more than 4 hours sleep at
a time; I'm determined to keep working until I really need time off (I use
more energy at home than work anyway so that's no bad thing).
Rheumatologist toyed with the idea of trying oxycontin, but we'll see what
happens; seems a little strange that I may soon be taking something my
patients take for their cancer pain!!
Any other ideas, anyone found other pain relief less invasive?
Thanks,
DEB.

I have been on it since 1998.  I am on 15mg per week and have been only as
high as 20.  It has helped me wean down on the prednisone.  I also, have not
had any problems with it.  I have been so much better since starting it.  My
aunt was put on it a few years ago because she has severe rheumatoid
arthritis, and she couldn't believe how much better she felt.

Good luck.

Diane

Yeah, definitely consider the risks of _not_ taking the drug.  MTX is
actually pretty benign compared to Immuran or Cytoxan.  I was on 20mg
MTX injected for a while, along with Arava and Azulfidine.  However, I
had too many infections on that combination and my liver panels started
shooting up.  Also, I'm one of the unfortunates who gets migraines from
MTX.  That's proven to be a real bugger for me, because many of the new
biologicals work better with MTX, and some like Remecaid require it.

I was on Enbrel for about a year and a half, but the drug effect faded for
me.  I'm currently on Humira and doing much, much better.  The infection
risk is supposedly much higher than the triple combo I was taking 3 years
ago, but I haven't seen any real problems yet.

Your mother is probably getting upset because
1) MTX is considered a "serious" drug.
2) It does have reproductive consequences (can cause miscarriages)

What she's missing is that it's now standard procedure to haul out the
big guns early on to keep rheumatoid diseases from _getting_ horrible.
Used to, MTX was only pulled out when things were going straight to hell.
That's not true anymore, especially now that many people have been on it
for years with no ill effects.  It's proving to be a good mainline therapy,
sometimes much better than the standard Plaquenil.  

Goodness, you want to be freaked out, read the set of warnings on Enbrel
or Humira.  At least here in the US, there's a big "black box" warning
of the "May cause death" type at the top of the product description. ;}