MTX and Alcohol- the continuing saga

SydneyJo said...

Please keep it this way

I wouldn't have it any other way!

I hope it is still discussion

And by the way JayBespoke I am Polish just live in US for last 6,5 years

Keep healthy habits ;-) Take care!

I didn't get a chance to google your link Jay but thank you! Did I ever tie one on at a BBQ on Sunday- it was just totally ridiculous what I did. I went from not having a drop for almost 2 months to a binge so big I am cured of my feeling that I want to drink! My girlfriend was very bad- she kept pouring before my glass was even empty and well....I'm weak.

Haha... yes, definitely don't tell your doctor! lol

I have to admit to over-indulging myself over the weekend. My birthday was the occasion. I didn't go overboard, but my body let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I went too far (for where I'm at right now).

Did you have a bad reaction to all that alcohol (apart from the usual hangover, I mean)?

Yes it was Labor Day weekend.

I am wondering if I should go for my bi-monthly blood test today.

I have been drinking lots of water and eating lots of watermelon for flushing.

My RD appt. is next Sat and I need to have my blood test....

What do you think?

Half of me wants to see what it says after all that- half of me says uh oh- what if the dr. catches you???? In the past I have done this and everything is fine.

Meltdown- I'm sorry I forgot to respond to your question. No I didn't feel bad RA wise. I think it makes me feel better.

I couldn't actually get drunk when I was taking MTX, alcohol had a drowsy, groggy effect rather than its usual... tendencies.

Oh yeah, I might not have mentioned this, but I decided just to stop MTX and see what happens. I was supposed to be dropping to 7.5mg as a maintenance dose, but my doctor forgot to add it to my script, and I didn't notice! I couldn't be bothered with the fuss. After 2 weeks, I must say I don't feel any different in anyway.

I even felt ill on a Friday (I'd inject MTX on thurs night). Obviously my body is so accustomed to it that it preemptively makes me ill! Quite a bizarre form of operant conditioning going on I think...

I would share my personal experience I have used MTX at 25 mg for 4 years come October 2010. I use it both for crohns and arthritis. I had a liver biosy done last May, and it came back stage 1 stenosis (Roenigk's grade I), which is not too terribly bad. But the concern was that I have no elevated liver markers on my blood work. Now since I had no liver biosy done before starting MTX, could this be previous damage? Who knows?  But I have to get a liver biosy done every two years now.
While every sailor likes their grog, I feel it is generally inadvisable for me to drink with this medication, because it take me days to recover from one drink, which is something that use to not effect me at all.

Well I know there have been studies on it with crohns and there was something about if you have had a total of 2500mg of mtx then you get a biosy, which is really not that big of deal if you do not have a problem with needles. (I know I put it off for quite some time)

not too bad, as long as you have morphine, I watched the doc do mine

wearyRAsufferer said...
We get no respect. This is sick but I almost liked it better when I was really sick because then I got respect. People could see my suffering then and they responded appropriately.

I do think RA and diseases of such ilk are very hard on it's victims psychologically, and diagnosis seem to illicit one of two responses - to push through it, work way too hard and basically over do it, with a sort of martyr mentality - which ultimately leads to a crash in a big way, or alternatively people become so frustrated with it that they just give up and submit to it.

Once I caught myself being afraid that my pain issues might turn out to be a curable infection, what if my fatigue and exhaustion isn't the result of pain - what if I'm just too weak to keep up with everyone else, what if it's in my head, what if it turns out I'm just addicted to pain killers - all silly thoughts really, of course it would be better if the condition was curable! What i'm trying to say is it messes with your emotions, sometimes I even see it as something that is a part of me - rather than a disease which I resent, it's almost like Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages come to see their captors as friends, and adulate them. The irony is, I really started to resent MTX and what it did to me - although of course in all of this MTX is the good guy, enabling us to function as normal humans (sort of).

I've got to say, on a sideline, in an ideal world Enbrel/other biologics would be the first line treatment for RA/PsA - for me at least there are almost no side effects, apart from tiredness the next day I wouldn't be aware I'd even taken a med - not the case with MTX. When I was talking to a Rheumatologist last week, he told me that biologics AREN'T available on private health-care in England, and they're only available on Government/National health care in the most extreme cases. It seems I lucked out by being on a clinical trial, as I'm contractually entitled to stay on the meds for as long as they remain helpful. He also said one of the reasons for the collapse of America's health industry was the high cost of biologics - for Cancer treatment and other conditions as well as RA. The fact it's so expensive really is a problem, even a generic will cost $7000-10000 apparently, whereas in England it's currently $15,500 USD.



x

MMMNAVY, for your interest http://www.springerlink.com/content/q55898t483148lv3/

There are undeniable issues with the US health industry, but I was only passing the opinion on of the doctor I was speaking to, because I thought it was interesting - I'm extremely frustrated that my sister cannot get onto anti-TNF treatments, and until recently, I didn't realise just how rare they are in England. The only reason I'm lucky enough to have access to Enbrel is because I'm on a research trial.

In England, health insurance is a rarity, very few people have it, because all health care in England is free, and every medication, whether it is Advil or Humira, costs the same, about $10 per month (free to older people and students under 18). This is not as much as a blessing as many people might assume, because it means that doctors aren't incentivised to prescribe certain meds from certain big pharma groups, rather, they are under extreme pressure to prescribe the cheapest treatment. MRI scans, and even X-rays, are only done in more extreme cases. Even when I fractured my ankle a couple of years ago (before I was dx'd with anything like RA) I wasn't X-rayed, even though I couldn't walk unsupported for 6 months (I was training for a 350 mile endurance trek for charity... it was not a great help!)

I imagine that a system whereby those without health care simply do not receive treatment, however, will cause a whole host of social problems. I know the law changed relatively recently, in order to allow anyone to get insurance, but from what I've heard, many people aren't happy at this because of the knee-jerk reaction of insurance companies increasing prices - trying to normalise health-care provision like that is an inherently flawed paradigm, insurance works on odds, and as soon as insurance companies have no choice in the matter, premiums are going to shoot through the roof.

It's all very frustrating, I used to blame big pharma, but I know all too well how much anti-TNF molecules cost to manufacture - even a generic would cost 70% of the brand-name equivalent (and it's a rarity that you ever see a brand-name drug in England, anyway). I guess I'm not intelligent enough to come up with a workable policy... and any politician who claims to have the answer, in my opinion, instantly invalidates himself. I think the only answer is to push forward in scientific research in order to make treatment as cost effective as possible. If we can reduce the number of zeroes on the bottom line, we can increase the number of people that can be treated.

I'm just eternally grateful that the doctor I saw happened to refer me to a clinic which was running a trial, and that the doctor I saw happened to be recruiting for the trial, and the random number generator assigned me to the test group, and not the control group! That said, I shouldn't be grateful at all, I should be royally * * * off that I was blessed with the joys of Fibromyalgia and Arthritis in the first place. I don't need this!

Whoah, that turned into a rant. I'd normally just delete it and have done, but it seems a shame to waste *that* much typing, especially now that my fingers are hurting!

Take care

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