Doc update
I don't know why this has become my new doctor journal, but it has and it's the only thing I keep up with besides facebooks... sort of. I'm so lazy. This is really just for me because I have a terrible memory. Anyway, I need to update before I forget so here goes:
So I went to the doctor this tuesday and asked him about getting an MRI for my back, about the recent aggressiveness of my psoriasis, and about my pain medication(mostly how long before it was supposed to kick in).
He said my painkiller should be kicking in within half an hour (which is wasn't, I'd take it at 9 or 10 in the morning and I wouldn't feel better till 3 o 4 in the afternoon, which is really just my muscle working better not painkillers). He said I could either double up (meaning taking one pill twice a day instead of just one pill a day) on my current painkiller to see if that works, or try a new round of pain killers and see if those work, or I could move on to a DMARD called Methotrexate. Methotrexate could take care of my pain and my psoriasis but there were some cons, which I will list in a second. He said that he'd want to see me take the DMARD first before doing an MRI, because that's a really agressive move for what we only think is "arthritis". And SURPRISE! The nurse took some blood to look at my vitamin D, my kidney function, and my immuno-markers.
Cons of Methotrexate:
- Can damage my liver, kidneys, lungs and bone marrow.
- For that reason, I would have to have regular blood work done (I hate needles)
- I can't drink because it might cause liver damage
- I can't get pregnant (which isn't an issue now but when I get married..?) because it can cause birth defects, I'd have to be off of it for 3 months before we even start trying
- At higher levels, it is used to help fight cancer, as a consequence I could find my hair thinning out even though I'm taking lower doses
- because it suprresses my immune system, I cannot be around anyone who is sick because I won't be able to fight off infection as well
- Mouth ulcers
- It also reacts negatively to a lot of other medications so I'd have to stop treatment before using anything from cold medicine to advil
- Once I start taking it, it's pretty much a life-long commitment, I can come off of it at any time but all my symptoms would come back.
- There is a correlation of cancer, it is not known if it is the drug or the patient's predisposition to get cancer, nevertheless, it is put as a possible side effect.
1. Naproxen (NSAID)
2. Meloxicam/Mobic (NSAID)
3. Etodolac (NSAID) and Flexeril (Muscle relaxant)
*DMARD stands for disease-modifying antirheumatic drug