Bad flare up need steroids injection

Hello GT and Welcome to HW!

I'm so sorry that you joined this club against your will and that you are suffering. I know that it is a horrid disease. We can all relate with you there. I've had RA since I was 24. If what you are using for the past while is not working be assured that your Rheumy will be finding other medications that will work for you. It does take time to find the right "chemical cocktail" for each of us. I presume that you are taking Folic Acid too. That helps with some of the side effects of Methotrexate.

I've never been to the ER for a steroid shot, I suppose you could try. Too bad you can't get a hold of them in order to ask. I've always called my Rheumy and he let me in the same day and told the Nurse ahead of time to give me the injection, if he was busy with other Patients. You could try that also today. I know it's a terrible wait. In the mean time to could take a warm bath, or use the microwaveable bean bags to put on your knee and finger or a hot water bottle. This helps many of us for a while anyway. Some People rotate hot for 20 minutes and then cold for 20 minutes, I believe. I can't stand anything cold on my skin since I have secondary Raynaud's and the cold makes my skin burn. I do put Volteran on my sore joints also. Maybe you can pick a tube of that up today. It does help me some. There are other tricks but I can't think of them now since my brain is ready for bed. Someone else will probably add on too.

Hopefully you will be feeling better soon, Hon.

Hi GT and welcome,
it can take a while to see results from methotrexate I had bad reactions at first -(to be blunt I was on the toilet while holding a bucket and vomiting one end while diarrhea the other ) this went on for days, but my Rheumy tried different methods and we eventually settled on splitting the dose in 2 so I took half on one day then 2 days latter the other half and also increased the folic acid. And now I notice a great difference with it and I actually do not like it if I have to stop taking it for some reason.
if possible contact your Rheumatologist or General Doctor don't just put up with side effects.
and for sure just turn up at the Hospital they should be able to give you a cortisone shot if nothing else it records the event, and no your not wasting their time.