Finding the Right Treatment for Psoriatic Arthritis
It has been a bit of a journey over the last 2 years. From being told I had PsA to a few weeks later being told it was sciatica then to have it confirmed again it was PsA.
Finding the right treatment has been the worst part for me. All I could do is hope that this would be the one to let me feel normal again.
My first psoriatic arthritis treatment
Methotrexate is the first treatment the rheumatologist wanted to try, tablet first but it had its added side effects to already feeling lousy. Tablets at first from 10mg up to 25mg once weekly and folic acid every other day. It had some effect but the nausea got too much. Next was to move onto the metoject pen. Because it missed the stomach the nausea should have been better. Again, the nausea got too much at the highest dose. Although the methotrexate was having some effect, flare-ups were still occurring that were lasting weeks and making walking extremely painful. I had enough of struggling.
Changing treatment for pain relief
1 phone call later and Bryan, the specialist nurse, had me in the next day for a check-up and a change of treatment. Next stop, Adalimumab or Humira as it's better known. To be prescribed this medication I had to have even more blood taken than usual to have tests done for a lot of different diseases.
Since then it has been over a month and I have started the treatment, alongside a smaller dose of methotrexate. Fingers crossed it helps more and reduces the severity and the number of flares I have.
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