Hello @lindaadele I was thinking about you this morning and thinking that I was going to send you an update and found yours waiting for me. :o) Thank you. I am so sorry to hear that you are not seeing much change. Are you also on prednisone? If so what is the dosage at the moment?
The rheumatologist had put me on 20 mg once a week of Methotrexate followed by two days of Folate. This was about 9 weeks ago. At the time she put me on it I was on 12 mg of Prednisone and she wanted me to decrease that by 1 mg every two weeks. As the weeks progressed with the methotrexate I started to experience more and more side effects. Dizziness, foggy brain, headaches, nausea in the afternoons, a very painful ulcer at the back of my tongue that would not go away and increasingly severe irritability, which is just not me! So I put in a call to her. She called me back and instructed me to stop taking the Methotrexate for 3 weeks, at which point she will call me back. If all those symptoms have disappeared by then it would indicate that it was indeed side effects of the dosage and she will consider putting me on 10mg methotrexate instead. Well fortunately all of THOSE symptoms are now gone. I am down now on 9 mg of prednisone but some stiffness has returned to my neck and shoulders and a bit in my left hip. Not near as bad as when it all started a year ago ... but still .. no fun and somewhat discouraging !!! So there you go ... it's a bit of a rollercoaster!!! So like you .. one day at a time ... trying to stay optimistic that this too shall pass. Trying to accept the changes in my body due to ageing .. it is to be expected .. and I want to age as gracefully as possible, accepting that it is part of the journey and the process our finite bodies have to go through. Some days easier said than done. I try to focus on being grateful for everything I do have that works. I can walk, I can hear, I can see, I have a loving family and am lucky to live in a beautiful area in BC. So I do have lots to be incredibly grateful for.
I send you warm wishes and hope that your PMR journey becomes easier and easier. Lets keep in touch!