Taking meth? If so please read this.

dreamdaisy

It's that time of year when the days grow longer and the sun is getting stronger so now is the time to start applying your SPF Factor 30 regardless of air temperature. Meth can cause the skin to become more photo-sensitive - this can lead to a rash which is not pleasant so it's best to be proactive, yes? I have trouble with this so I am covered up but the jollop is underneath - I've enough on my plate without adding more! DD

ritwren

Hi DD thanks for the reminder. Hope you are well.
Ritwren

dachshund

Hello DD
i'm not on meth I just wondered how you are.
take care
joan xx

DebraKelly

Now this is strange.
I have been on Meth for years and have never noticed this until now.
The rash is down below and not very nice!
Need to watch this when I am going to Majorica in the summer.

dreamdaisy

Hello Ritwren and Joan, thank you for asking after me. How am I? Well, I could be better and am glad I'm not worse.

Debra? Please get that rash checked out - meth doesn't affect everyone with sun rashes but if you mean what I think you mean with 'down below' then please go and see your GP, just to be on the safe side. DD

mike26

Thanks for that dreamdaisy
i didnt know about this ill be more aware now
when im out and about more so this summer. 8)
thanks mike26.

Boomer13

Thank you DD.

I'm taking three meds now that cause photosensitivity so I'll be layering on the sunscreen because I had a slight MTX burn last summer. Very painful :shock:

dreamdaisy

It is indeed painful. I am prone to it so, when the hot weather comes I'm out there in my long sleeves and scarf, which is unbearable heat-wise. During mid-winter over here people were trotting around in layers whereas I wore a Tshirt plus a cotton jacket. And was still melting. :roll: DD

Kittkat

Thanks DD, a good reminder.

Boomer13

I can't even fathom what that is like, DD. Thanks to Raynaud's, I remain bundled up even in summer. It does mean I go through less sunscreen though

dreamdaisy

It's tough, yes? Whatever we have to deal with we are rarely happy about it. I love being cold because something can be done to warm up (I send my apologies to those who never warm up, my late Ma being one of them) but being too hot? Nuh-uh: to my peculiar mind that is far worse. I am pleased to read that you still maintain the sunscreen routine, it is essential, methinks.

One of Bea's features is air-conditioning. I swore I would not use it ( thanks to the added cost in fuel and maintenance); that resolve lasted until the first reasonably warm day once I resumed driving. :roll: DD

As5567

Very useful reminder, I think that most of us forget that even if its cold outside/cloudy we still need skin protection this time of year right up until around October.

I have been unlucky enough in the passed to become burnt on a cold but sunny April day.

Mat48

Thanks DD - just back on Meth but no chance of hot weather where I live - pigs might fly! Up until RA I used to burn and steam and have always hated the heat rashes I inevitably get when I very rarely go anywhere over 28 degrees. So like yourself I've always disliked being anywhere hot.

Now, with newly arrived Raynauds, I find the cold quite terrifying too - so I'm damned whichever way the weather goes but Spring is GOOD

I found out for myself that my Vitamin D levels were low at the end of this summer so pushed my GP for the right amount of supplements which he reluctantly agreed to because, if I was at the very bottom end of "insufficient" at the end of a good summer, then there wasn't much hope for improvement with our very northern winter on it's way.

Interestingly he refused to test my Vit D this time last year because he said that everyone will probably be low up here and healthy people (like me 8) ) need to adjust our "lifestyles accordingly and just get out more in the summer sunshine and eat plenty of sardines"! I reminded him that people on Methotrexate are advised to cover up and he admitted this hadn't even occurred to him. So perhaps, as well as keeping out of the direct sun, people taking MTX/ Meth should also push to get their vitamin D levels checked regularly too?

tjt6768

:roll:
I love my sunshine

I've recently started on injected meth. Was on 15mg but they have just increased it to 20mg with sulphasalazine added in.
We go to Spain on the 31st of May too...

Lol

Numptydumpty

tjt6768 wrote:

:roll:
I love my sunshine

I've recently started on injected meth. Was on 15mg but they have just increased it to 20mg with sulphasalazine added in.
We go to Spain on the 31st of May too...

Lol

Please be careful Tony, I never had a problem with the sun while I was on Meth tablets, but last year, my first summer on the injections! well let's just say it wasn't pleasant!
Numpty

tjt6768

Thanks numpty
I will be careful I promise

X

Boomer13

Yes, I didn't heed advice once last year either and thought 'sunburn with mtx?' how bad could it be.....It was very bad and different than a normal, old sunburn. More painful and much more skin damage. I found out the hard way .

Mat, good for you for keeping your doc on his toes regarding sunshine, vit D, mtx and covering up. This is just the kind of thing docs say that confuses patients. Maybe this should apply to all mtx patients? Taking additional vit D because we keep covered up?

Mat48

Well generally, as you know Anna, I hold all my gps in high esteem but ultimately they are generalists and I feel that it should be the responsibility of all rheumies to make sure that their MTX patients aren't low on vitamin D. Mine just joked and said he agreed with my GP that the world has gone a bit overboard about vitamin D and told me some story about his student niece?! :roll: I think all people with autoimmune diseases should be routinely checked for vitamin deficiencies - very much including vitamin D. Mat xx

tjt6768

Good advice Mat. I'll ask my gp next time I go. I'm still on fortnightly bloods so it shouldn't be a problem to add an extra tick in the form.

Mat48

Good luck with that Tony - I'm on weekly bloods just now but vitamin D is an expensive test and some practices, mine included, won't do it unless a patient is housebound. Hope yours is more willing though. Matx

lavenderlady

I was never told this but am suppose to be careful in the sun anyway due to having lupus, better start slapping the sun cream on then , am off to the Caribbean next year again, but this time am taking an umbrella to shield me from the sun

Mat48

Or a nice wide brimmed hat perhaps?