Increased pain after taking Methotrexate
My joint pain and stiffness vary from day to day, although I get “trends” of higher or lower pain, like everyone else. But I feel like it always gets worse the day after I take my Methotrexate. When I did a search for this online, I couldn’t find anything. Has anyone had this experience?
Hi
, lovely to see your name pop up here again, although I am sorry to hear about this increase in pain you're experiencing. Does it happen just on the day after the methotrexate or does it last for longer? I haven't personally experienced this, although I do often find myself thinking that my fingers are a bit puffy the morning after I take the methotrexate. Having said that, I think my fingers are always puffy in the morning and I just notice it more on the day after my dose, because it's a day that I tend to evaluate my symptoms a bit more thoroughly.
I think we have heard from a few people who find that they feel more tired and achey on the day after they take their PsA medication (not necessarily methotrexate), but I'm not sure about increased pain. I hope anyone with experience will stop by to share with you. Will you get a chance to discuss this with your doctor at some point? Warmly, -Catherine, Community ModeratorHi Cathy, Thank you for reaching out and responding! I think I was experiencing post-Methotrexate-day over-scrutinizing, similar to you more thoroughly evaluating your symptoms the day after your dose. There were also a few factors that made me more sensitized to this over-concern. My doctor recently increased my dosage, titrated up over a few weeks. The day after my first increased dose, I found I wasn't able to walk on the beach like I usually can. In hindsight, I realized it was more because of fatigue than pain, but at the time, I blended it together in my mind. My last posting was written on the day I started my final dose increase, so I was experiencing a lot of anticipatory anxiety about it. But I found that the next day, my joint pain was no worse than before! I was a little more fatigued than usual, but not drastically. Thank you so much for your insightful and compassionate response! All the best to you.
Hi
! Oh I am pleased to hear that the joint pain the following day wasn't any worse than before. I'm sorry you're still dealing with joint pain though. Hopefully the increased dose will make a difference to that, but as Christine says, there are other treatment options out there if it doesn't.
I can definitely relate to the anticipatory anxiety and making connections between the methotrexate and potential side effects. I think that's natural and perfectly understandable. I try to look for patterns/repetitions and find that helps with working out what's going on. For example, I'd say 8 out of 10 days following methotrexate I feel groggy, and I don't feel groggy at any other time, so I think it's safe to assume that the grogginess is a side effect! Likewise, at the beginning of my journey with the methotrexate, I always felt mildly nauseous the day after I took it, so again I assume that was a side effect. Thankfully that one passed as time went on. Have you had any trouble with side effects (besides the fatigue)? Warmly, -Catherine, Community Moderator
Hi
, hopefully some of our community members can connect with you directly, but I did want to share an article from one of our advocates (in addition to the helpful comment from Catherine). While she only briefly mentions it in her article, she does state that she often feels worse for the first 24 hours after her treatment before then noticing some symptom relief, https://psoriatic-arthritis.com/living/falling-in-love-with-shot-day. While she's not specifically referring to methotrexate, I thought you still might appreciate hearing your perspective. And, of course, if you're finding that the methotrexate is regularly not meeting your needs for relief, please don't hesitate to reach out to your doctor for other treatment options! You deserve it! Sending you gentle hugs. -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member) Hi Christine, Thank you for responding and guiding me to the article about "falling in love" with one's treatment. I enjoyed reading it, and although I'm not getting injections like the author, I've also experienced an increase in gratitude since my PsA became significant and was diagnosed about six months ago. For me, it's more the experience of having this disorder and all its limitations that's helped me feel more grateful for so much in my life. I feel it's helped me have more patience and compassion towards myself and others too. Sending you hugs in response! Take care.
I'm so glad that you've been feeling some of that increase in gratitude. While I didn't mean to share the article to imply you need to "fall in love" with your treatment (it was mostly the comment of having that "feeling worse right after treatment" that I wanted t point out to you), I'm glad that the article resonated. It's wonderful that you're finding you have more patience and compassion, not only to others but also to yourself. (Personally I think that can be really hard at times, so it's great that you're finding this kindness to yourself!) Please know that our community is here for you, so please reach out any time. Thank you for the hugs as well! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
