new and stressed!

mumof4

hi all this is my first post i have a 15 year old daughter who has just been diganosed with psoriatic arthrtis she is starting methotrexate next week. just wondered if anyone can offer any advice about what to expect for me and her.

dreamdaisy

Hi, I am an aged hag of 52 with PA and have had both types of meth: i began with the tablets, got a rash, so they stopped that and a few years later I began the injections (which I do myself).

Meth can be a very effective treatment and though the side-effects make for nasty reading it is in no way guaranteed that your girl will be affected with them. I stopped the tablet meth due to a rash (which didn't hurt), my hair does fall out a little more than it used to but that could just be an age-related thing, my skin is certainly more photo-sensitive, so keep her well covered in a high factor sunscreen, and I do occasionally feel nauseous after the injection but that is rare occurrence. She should have regular blood tests to monitor the effect the meth is having on inflammation markers, her liver function etc - these tests are essential as this is a powerful drug.

I hope that she is able to cope well with it but you won't know until she begins the treatment. As to what to expect, well I think that all depends on her temperament, yours too, and the family dynamic can also play a part: arthritis hits everyone in the family, not just the one directly affected by it. I sincerely hope it helps her more than it has me and I wish her well. DD

andylamb

Hi Mum of 4, sorry for the late reply, I haven't checked in for a while.

My 7 year old daughter was on MTX for a while. She was diagnosed at 2.5, and started MTX at 5 when the NSAIDs and steroids weren't working. She was on it for a year. MTX is a well weird drug. It seems to work totally differently for different people.

Is your daughter having tablets or injections? My daughter was on the injections. Things to watch out for are:
Stomach pain
The premixed syringes with preservative can really sting. The non-preservative version is not so bad.
Keep up her folic acid intake. Sometimes a folic acid tablet is needed. My daughter got by on lots of folic acid rich foods - fortified cereal, marmite etc.
My daughter's hair was awful while she was on MTX - but I've never heard of that with anyone else, so it probably wasn't related to the MTX at all!
It is a chemotherapy drug so if you look it up online you can scare yourself silly. The dosages for arthritis are much much lower than the cancer doses
It takes ages to actually work, it can be up to 12 weeks, as it needs to accumulate in her system. Same thing when she comes off it - it'll take weeks and weeks to clear her system

I hope that give you enough to be getting in with! Please ask if there's anything else I can help answer.

mumof4

thank you so much for the replies. she had her first tablets on friday and all seemed ok. little bit worried about the hair thing as my daughter is taking epilepsy medication which also thins her hair so keeping fingers crossed it wont have that effect on her. i already looked it up on line and yes i scared myself death but have read a lot of the posts on here, and they have made me feel better.

dreamdaisy

Meth does appear to be scary but remember we take it at much smaller doses than for other illnesses. The folic acid is important, I hope she has been prescribed some. Please let us know how she (and you) get on over the next few weeks. I hope you are both as well as you can be. DD