I have had RA and chronic fatigue for about ten years now and have jumped around with doctors and meds... i don't feel too comfortable with the idea of taking drugs to "control" my illness and mask my symptoms, and if i could go back to the beginning of my treatment, i may very well have decided to go completely natural. I sort of feel like it's tto late now, what with doctors scaring me pretty good with stories of terrible flares once going off meds, and irreversible damage. However, the idea of going off my meds is still in the back of my mind.
Currently i am on 5omgs of mtx, and a plaquinil every other day. The stomach issues that started a few years back are getting worse, what with lack of appetite and even very slight nausea has started quite recently when eating. I think these are mtx side-effects, and how i would love to go off it. Over the years i have incorporated, bit by bit, natural healthy regimes into my life, starting with nutritional supplements and milk thistle for my liver, i quit drinking and smoking, which i'd done a lot of, started eating healthier and launched myself on a spiritual path of facing my reality instead of running from it... two years ago i started taking yoga classes and although i still have a love/hate relationship with it, it has been the one thing - along with my other spiritual practices that has made the most difference in both my body and my spririt. I almost ran away several times because during these yoga classes one is confronted with one's illness in all it's various forms and limitations, and i would get very angry and sad etc when i couldn't do what the others were doing. But my teacher was wonderful and kept telling me to go slow, to do the positions in whatever way worked for me, and not to look at anyone else, keep my eyes to myself.
I am considering going on Enbrel to save myself from the stomach issues. Has anyone been on it for quite a long time and can let me know their experiences?