Newly diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis

Poppy59
Poppy59 Member Posts: 6
edited 31. Mar 2025, 07:07 in Living with arthritis

hi , I’ve just been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis and was giver an IM steroid injection 3 weeks ago and have had 2 weeks of injected Methotrexate. I started having sweats so the rheumatology nurse told me to stop taking methotrexate for 2 weeks. Has anyone experienced this side effect . Really keen to start taking some sort of medication again before steroid injection wears off . Really stressed with the diagnosis and think this is making my symptoms worse but difficult not to stress .

Comments

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 547

    @Poppy59 May I ask what your MTX dose is?

    I was on 25mg/week, spent the first 6 months in hell, no steroids but eventually found relief.

    What is your diet like? This matters a lot even if docs dismiss it, having only spent 10hrs out of 7 years learning about nutrition in med school, so I would not ask them for advice on that matter. Docs are educated to diagnose and prescribe an approved pharma product, food “experts “ rely on Ansel Keyes outdated pyramid model that was based on selecting only evidence that fit his preconceived ideas, pushing grains and carbs and cereals over meat and fat.

    Modern studies of the Ma’asai & Inuits have found that without their outer clothing they are skinny muscular and very healthy, with none of the obesity (that then needs expensive weightloss drugs) that is so common in the west, esp UK & US…

    1. I managed to escape RA and go completely drug free and symptom free, amazing all the consultants at the hospital, many annoyed that I had blown their cherished beliefs… like the Pope being told the sun does not revolve round the Earth! They spent a fortune conducting tests to confirm, then gave up.
    2. Your food RA triggers are critical, I was RA FREE for 2 years and only got blown back in Jan 2025 by consuming unfermented soy protein, apparently a potent trigger. I am now planning my second escape using what I know. Go through the following links - they will help you greatly. I discovered the knowledge there by trial and error, unaware a few good scientists not in the pocket of Big Pharma had done the same, and recently published.:

    ZOE


    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zoe-science-nutrition/id1611216298?i=1000696532853


    leaky gut UCL research


    https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/sep/targeting-gut-relieve-rheumatoid-arthritis


    sfed


    https://londoncfm.co.uk/what-is-the-aip-diet-autoimmune-protocol-diet/

  • Poppy59
    Poppy59 Member Posts: 6

    I was on 15mg Methotrexate. Steroid was helping but the last few days the pain in my jaw has returned quite intensely .
    I have a fairly healthy diet, am on the low BMI end and probably a bit underweight .
    I think I should keep a food diary and see if I can pin point any trigggering foods though I do know that stress plays a big part especially with my jaw .

    That’s amazing that you managed to go drug and pain free for a long spell . I Shall have a look at the links you sent.

    Thank you for commenting.

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 547
    edited 29. Mar 2025, 22:47

    @Poppy59 You are welcome. Unfortunately there is NO single definition of “healthy diet”. I used to think that and it kept me in RA prison.

    It’s what YOUR immune system will or will not tolerate that matters. In my case, fine Norwegian salmon, like caught - flares

    poultry - flares

    eggs (hard boiled) - flares

    lean ham - flares

    cheese - flares

    beans - MASSIVE FLARES!

    bread - flares unless it’s 48hr fermented sourdough bread. Too expensive for everyday but safe.

    McDonalds Big Mac (w/o cheese or mayo) NO FLARES!

    First month after dropping MTX I lived on Big Macs. Not a single flare. I hate the taste now!

    Yes stress or any neural tension can bring on a flare.

    A food diary is an excellent idea. Before you start, listen to the ZoE podcast. I did an 8 day water fast to give my poor inflamed gut a break. Then I tried a tiny piece of a single item, to see if it would light up my joints, usually knees, and soon compiled my own “forbidden” list. After 2 years I was slowly adding items from the forbidden list in small amounts but unfermented soya was so toxic to me it destroyed my 2 year remission and dumped me back into active RA. Currently working on escaping again.

    What hospitals don’t emphasise enough is that all the RA drugs at the dose they are effective, leave you vulnerable to common infections and even shingles, which I had.