MIXING IT UP

Everything is still full steam ahead on the running front. I'm keeping up with the two weekday runs and a weekend long run very nicely. Just finished my fastest training run since all this arthritis crap happened. Didn't really plan on it, but I was running with Sunstone and decided to press myself a little. Anything under 10 was good so I started with a 9:51 first mile. When a 9:22 followed, I figured I might as well try to run a progression, so that's what I did. 9:13 third mile followed by a 8:57 fourth mile. The final .35 I ran at 7:35 pace.

Overall it was only 9:12 but still, that's my fastest training run in a very long time. It felt good too! I was actually having fun doing it. Toward the end when I was really going I felt strong and like I was flying. Knees were a complete non-issue. They really haven't been since early summer. My psoriatic arthritis has retreated and is trembling in fear. Just kidding. It's just biding its time. But hey, make hay while you got it, right?

Since everything is working so well I figured I might as well switch medications and fuck this good thing up. Why not? Seriously though... I saw my doctor today. And while the arthritis has become a non-factor (yay!) the methotrexate was really cramping my style. Thursdays were garbage and I felt awful. The side effects weren't going away. I started to dread Thursdays and it would be in the back of my mind on Tuesday and Wednesday. It just wasn't the greatest. It was better than non-treatment, but it still wasn't ideal.

With that expressed to my doctor, she said it might be worth it to try another drug. There are really two "entry level" drugs for psoriatic arthritis, methotrexate and leflunomide. Here in the good ol' US of A we typically try methotrexate first. Other countries do leflunomide first. They are basically like Tylenol and Advil for headaches. Achieve the same outcome through different means. When someone isn't tolerating the methotrexate well, they switch them to leflunomide. Everyone's body is different, so some people having trouble with one might just tolerate the other one perfectly fine.

Please don't make my hair fall out any faster please, kthx.

So, as of last Wednesday, I took my last dose of methotrexate (yay!). For now at least. If this doesn't work, or the side effects from leflunomide are just as bad, we can always go back to what was working. However, it's worth a shot to see if I can get relief and not write off an entire day of the week every week. And dread that day for days in advance.

One of the potential side effects is hair loss. She said 5-15% of people might experience that. If that happens, I'm going to have to nope out. Haha. But, she said generally it is actually slightly easier on the body. You also take one pill every day, instead of a bunch of pills or an injection once a week. I'm hoping the smaller doses will help me tolerate it better. We'll see.

Anyways, I really hope I can keep running without issue. Everything is feeling so good down there (#) I'd hate to screw it up. She said there might be a small window in the transition between the two drugs where I get a little flare, so I'll have to monitor that. The leflunomide takes time to build up just like methotrexate. Hopefully though, when all is said and done, I'll still be relatively symptom free and not feeling like crap half the time.

Onward!