Breathlessness

wornout73
wornout73 Member Posts: 2
edited 24. Jan 2020, 10:46 in Living with arthritis
I have psoriatic arthritis and heart failure, and been prescribed methotrexate by rheumatology which has made me very breathless. The Rheumatologist say its the heart failure, Cardiologist say its the P.S.

Has anyone else had breathlessness with methotrexate?

Comments

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,764
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    Hello wornout and welcome to the forum though I'm sorry about the difficulties which have led you to join us.

    I've taken meth for years but I have no heart problems. The trouble is, the more diseases / illnesses we have, the greater the risk of side effects from meds.

    One good thing is that neither your rheumatologist nor your heart surgeon seem over-concerned about the breathlessness though, obviously, you will be.

    In such circumstances I personally find a chat with my GP can help a lot. He or she will have reports from both consultants and might be able to make more sense of them.

    Also, don't rule out the influence of other meds. If you are taking strong pain relief (by strong I mean from co-codamol upwards) that can cause breathlessness and, even if it hasn't before, adding methotrexate to the mix might just cause an interaction. Your GP would be abe to assess this possibility.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -0001, 00:00
    I am used to being breathless due to childhood asthma: before inhalers were invented I would often be very bad at this time of year which no-one medical understood but neither did they know why it was also bad in the summer. Now we do.

    In low pressure weather moulds and spores abound, invisibly, in the air we breathe. These can trigger an allergic response from the immune system causing breathlessness and wheezes. Although my asthma is controlled and my immune system heartily suppressed by methotrexate and humira I can still become wheezy when dusting or exercising when the weather is of the low pressure variety, with my breathing often tells me it's on its way. As far as I know my heart is OK but my faulty immune system continues to seize on any excuse to annoy me. Now I am not suggesting for one moment that this is the case with you but it might be worth bearing in mind.

    Before I began meth I underwent lung function tests, did you? DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben

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