I do my best not to focus on the pain and fatigue that my RA causes me. Some days are better than others, and right now it happens to be nearly impossible to ignore.
For many, many weeks I have been taking Prednisone in addition to my regular RA medication, Methotrexate. I hate taking Prednisone. It makes me moody, anxious, moody, hungry, and moody. Did I mention moody? Well, I have tried weaning off, but my pain and fatigue quickly return, so I am temporarily stuck with it. I visited my rheumatologist on Tuesday and, when he listed to all my current maladies, he suggested we switch up my meds. I have known this was coming (which is partly why I haven't been to see him in months) but I am at the point where I am definitely ready for something to change.
So, after a ton of blood work (9 vials!!) I will be starting Enbrel this next week. Enbrel is one of the newer, injection style treatments for RA. Many women in my RA support group are taking it and each one of them has had wonderful results from it. I will, for the time being, remain on the Prednisone and Methotrexate. The Enbrel will take 4-6 weeks to really start working and once it is working then I can start scaling back on the other meds, starting with the Prednisone. Once I am completely off the Prednisone we will try reducing the Methotrexate. I have at minimum a few months before we will now how the new meds are working, but I am hopeful that I will start to return to a more normal state. Well, normal for me at least.
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