chemotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis?

[nightcat]

My friend's dh has been offered this as his pain is very severe. She is not on mn and I offered to find out if anyone has been down this route and did it work?
I think they are hoping to treat autoimmune aspect by chemo, seems harsh to me, has this worked for anyone?

I think you will have to be more specific - methotrexate is a common treatment for both RA and some cancers - you will have to find out the drug names before anyone can comment as chemotherapy just means chemical treatment and therefore covers most drugs.

It makes sense that autoimmune and cancers share some treatments as both are an overproduction, out of normal control, cell behaviour. Limiting the folate cycle, as methotrexate does, can stall the production of inflammatory or tumour cells (both are replicating at too fast a rate when condition present).

I'll try and reply when you find out a bit more about the specifics - try not to get too worried over a term just because you have heard it in a different context.

Thank you Runner, it could well be the drug you mention, don't know the name but she said it's the same as a chemotherapy drug for cancer just a lower dose (although he also gets many chemo symptoms but no pain relief?).
I am more interested to hear if this has actually worked for anyone long term.
Also, what would be next step if it doesn't.

My brother has a 'chemotherapy' drug one day a week & it's a long-term treatment for his RA

I think he has only been on it since January

i am on it and have been on and off it since early 20s. It has worked well for me you do get a very bad stomach at first they can give you other medicine for that but i have no reaal side effects.Make sure they know to eat before they take it. Any other question please ask as i dont want to type an essay if its not the info you are after

thank you for your replies

Miss, how long does it take to see it work? (He seems to be in awful pain from RA as well as completely wiped out, it's about a month since he started)
Also, do you stay on the same dose or does it need to increase?
How long do you get before relapse?

KatyM, he has tablets and afaik, it's daily at the moment

My brother is in Sweden so they may have different protocols there

I'll see what I can find out

it does take a couple of months to start working. The first tiime i was on it I stayed on the same dose of 12.5mg a week and it went in to remission.
It flared up again after the birth on my second child and i am back on it I have had the dose increased and decreased as i keep getting strange blood test results. If it is methotrexate he must take folic acid as well. Also he could ask for a steriod injection as this will tide him over until it starts working. I only take it once a week as well, in the mornings as i take slow release anti inflamatories in the evening and one can stop the other working. Also if i take the methotrexate on a sunday i have to take the folic acid on a weds as you have to space them out.

Hi, I think you need to check what drug he has been recommended. As said above methotrexte is used for RA and as a chemo drug. However the dosage is massively different when used to treat cancer through chemotherapy. I have RA and am on 20mg a week taken once a week (in addition to other meds)in tablet form. His rheumatolagist is the best person to ask really.
Yes it does work for me in conjunction with the other medication.

If it is methotrexate, it worked for me (although I'm off it just now, I will be going back on after baby). It took about 4 months to kick in for me but I had to be eased very slowly onto it as I had some GI problems, I had steroids to tide me over in the meantime. The doctor will give him lots of info on blood tests, folic acid etc. I took it by injection, so there are options if he suffers GI side effects.

If he is in pain, get to the rheumatologist - even having fluid drained from the joints can make a world of difference (I speak as someone who used to put up with pain and has now realised I don't have to).

As a friend, I think the best thing you can do for his wife is reassure her this is normal treatment and has worked for many people. If it doesn't work there are still other options, none of which are as bad as the disease itself. Encourage them to be honest with the doctors, about their fears or pain as then they will receive better treatment.

Dh has PsA and was given methotrexate, once a week. It did control his symptoms, but the side effects were so bad for him that after 6 mths he was taken off.

I thinks it's trial and error as to what works for an individual!

Hi nightcat! has yr. friend's DH thought about his diet I wonder?

Thank you all, at least it seems it works for some of you, I was very worrie dthat this was some very experimental/last resort treatment. He has another appt soon to possibly try another route/up the meds(??).
Scotslass, so what did they do for your dh after metrox?
Ppeat, I have mentioned the diet, but he seems extremely reluctant to give it a try even though he seems very poorly.

He is now on Sulfasalazine and HydroxyChloroquine. He has been stable for 3 years now

Ho Hum nightcat you tried, congrats.! IMO 'tis unusual for people to change their lifestyles even when they're so ill.

tell them to look at www.nras.org.uk/default.aspx?returnurl=%2fmembers%2fdefault.aspx as well. NRAS have loads of info and RA people they can talk to, online or by phone.

the MTX dose is pretty low but it is pretty toxic, I can't tolerate more than 15mg a week, though it does help. what really works for me is the anti_TNF Hmira, I've now been in remission for a year. I only partially responded to MTX, was considered treatment failure. You have to fail two of the stadard RA drugs like MTX and sulfa or hydroxy before you are assessed for thew anti-TNFs. Rationed on grounds of cost.

they may need to consider conception issues around these drugs - you need to get MTX out of your system for ?3 or ?6 before trying to conceive, men and women.