Things started off a bit rough after taking my second dose, I felt like crap and very tired again the next day. My cold that I had developed right after taking the first dose was still plugging me up and I was pretty miserable last Thursday. I was pretty down on the whole thing. I felt like I was poisoning myself and wondering if this all was really worth it.
However, Friday through today have been awesome. I'm really starting to feel the therapeutic effects of the methotrexate. After my "bleh" day Thursday, I woke up Friday feeling spunky and my cold starting to clear. I started noticing little things I could do again, like:
- Get in and out of the car without pain and hoisting myself up using the door handle
- Stairs were no longer the enemy, either up or down
- Wake up in the morning feeling rested and not being stiff and sore
- Noticeable reductions in inflammation of my knees, jaw, and upper back
- The ability to jump without pain
- Getting out of the bath like a normal person and not a 80 year old
- Knees aren't stiff after periods of sitting or inactivity
All in all it has been a really huge change. Things aren't completely better obviously, but if the old baseline was 7/10 with flares being 10/10, I'd say I'm at a 4/10 now. The best I've felt in a long time. There is certainly something still there, but I have many more weeks of treatment before I reach the "full effect." So I'm feeling pretty positive about things! The cold has mostly gone away (tiny amounts of residual flem) so we'll have to see how often I get sick in the future.
The key now will be to see if the side effects greatly lessen or disappear. I'm hoping after a few weeks Thursdays won't suck so much after taking the MTX on Wednesday night. From what I'm reading on the internet, most people had their side effects noticeably reduce after some time on the treatment. The main side effect is gastronomical discomfort, and that has been minimal for me, so hopefully that's a good sign.
One side effect I've been having is waking up when I'm sleeping. I'm not having trouble going to sleep, but I seem to be waking up in the middle of the night. I'm usually able to fall asleep again super quick, but waking up randomly can't be good for energy level. I'm not seeing this listed as a side effect, so I don't know what's up. I've been having some really vivid dreams though and that's weird. Normally I sleep like a rock and don't remember any dreams. I *think* this is getting better, last night I only really remember waking up once, so hopefully with some time I'll be back to my normal deep sleep.
Overall I'm feeling much better about things this week.
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