Anyone know about gold injections for RA please?

dibdab

Hi, I currently take Sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine for RA but it isn't keeping the inflammation under control so the rhuemy wants to add more treatment. Unfortunately the RA has affected my lungs and I also have bronchiectasis so he is unable to add in a biologic treatment and suggests adding in gold injections. No one else I know has this treatment and I'd love insights into what to expect, the pitfalls and pleasures that I have instore!!!!
I'm really struggling with the realities of this disease and how it affects every part of life, and somehow hearing that I can't have the next recognised treatment feels a bit like a hopeless situation- tearful and tender just now and really in need of folks who understand that feeling of being out of control.

Sorry to be a wet blanket!

Deb

stickywicket

You are not a wet blanket at all, Deb. I've been doing tender for far too long and I could easily have done the tearful today so no apologies needed.

Right. Gold injections. I had them twice and it was so long ago I'm struggling to remember when but almost certainly in the '70's. They worked well for me. I presented my rear once a month(?) and they duly stabbed it. After some time I developed a rash on my upper body, neck and arms. They said no problems, keep taking it. I think I came off it in the end in order to have one of my sons. Afterwards things were tough and I went back on it. It worked again but, again, after a while, I got the gold rash. This time it was absolutely minimal compared with before but they said I'd to come off it permanently. So, that was that. It certainly worked and I did feel quite valuable for a while I hope you get the good results without the rash - or, maybe, they can deal with the rash now.

dreamdaisy

Hello dibdab, I can understand how you are feeling, this malarkey can really pull one down. I shall be heading for gold when the humira fails (and I'm sure it will as all the anti TNFs seem to falter sooner or later) and I have no strong feelings one way or the other. I'll do it, yes, it'll be a nuisance having to go to the hospital once a month but if that is all I can take then that is what I will do. I know that it can work very well for some and it has a proven track record but is somewhat 'unfashionable' now since the advent of the 'modern' meds. Let is know what happens, yes? DD

tillytop

Hello Deb

I too am in the "tearful and tender" club today :roll: and, as Sticky says, really no need to apologise.

I had gold injections for a while, I guess about 10 years ago now, in combination with a couple of other DMARDS (Sulph and Cyclosporin I think) and they did work for me. I didn't get a rash or any side effects from the Gold (although the combination of DMARDS apparently caused me to be overimmunuppressed for a while, causing a nasty bout of shingles). Unfortunately, being deep intramuscular injections, they are not something you would be able to inject yourself so, as Sticky says, you have to go to the docs for the injections. I think I remember having to have one or more "test doses" then they were fortnightly intitiallly (as far as I remember) then monthly. I think I remember reading that Gold has a good safety record - and I do remember being monitored through frequent blood tests. Gold used, I think, to be one of the "gold standard :roll: ) RA meds, but I think it got overtaken by the biologics which is why it is not used so often these days.

But I would have no problems going back to Gold again - in fact it is something I have considered asking about fairly recently after problems with some of the biologics.

Really good luck with it - and hope it does help you.

Thinking of you.

Tillyxxx

Dazztee

My nan was a bad RA sufferer an i remember 20 yrs ago her having gold an it worked fantasticaly for about 5 mnths then due to side effects with kidney function she had to come off, at the end of the day take wotever they trhrow at you

Lupin25

I didn't know they still used gold injections, brings back memories for me! I was on them for about 3 years, must be 19 years ago now. I had no trouble what so ever to begin with, and felt the best I have ever felt in 22 years of having RA. I had a blood test each time I had an injection and was carefully monitored. Unfortunately for me it lowered my platelets (which is something I seem prone to ), and had to come off them.

cherrybim

Hello Deb,

Oh you're so lucky to be offered sodium aurothiomalate - Myocrisin - Gold

33 years ago my Rheumy prescribed this for me and I had weekly injections for 3 years. As Tillytop has said you can't physically do the injections yourself as they are intramuscular into the fleshy upper part of the hip. (I was fortunate there as our District Nurse was a family friend so she timed her visits to drop in and stab me at coffee or tea time, lol)

Before each injection your wee is tested for protein etc and once a fortnight your bloods are done to make sure your platelet count is ok. I had magnificent results with the Gold and after 3 years the Rheumy announced the RA had gone into remission and there it remained until 10 years ago.

I had hoped to be put back on the gold but it was explained to me that cessation of the gold induces the body to produce antibodies against it. I'm now on Enbrel but long for my beloved Gold !

It is tried and tested, I believe for more than 70 years and my Rheumy tells me that he has more than 100 patients who have been on the gold continuously. He said that the only reason it had become less used was purely because medical science was still searching for the ultimate 'bomb', hence the current obsession with biologicals.

I wish you every success with the gold, to me it was a miracle which gave me so many wonderful years

Cherry x

julie47

Hi Deb

it was over 20 years ago When I was on Gold injections.
It was one of the first medications I had for RA.
I remember at first I had to go weekly for until I reached a total of 1000 mg. Then the injections went to monthly.
The Gold injections were really successful for me for about five years.

I hope the injections work for you too

Love Julie PF x

dibdab

Thank you all, I feel much encouraged by your replies- all I have to do now is wait for the hospital and GP to finish debating who will deliver it- at the moment both are trying to pass it on to the other!! Nothing is ever simple, but at least I can look forward to something that might be successful in the fullness of time. Hope you all had a good Jubilee weekend and didn't overdo it- I sit here doing school work with the rheumy's advice to "pace it, just think about how you feel when you overdo things and pace it!".

Deb x