And here comes the side effects

It is interesting to see that things that I thought were either effects of my arthritis or "normal" unrelated things actually seem to be side effects from methotrexate.

This far:
* Heat flushes alternating with freezing
* Extreme tiredness. This is a side effect of the illness, but when it's much worse the two days after I take the MTX it shows rhat it's the MTX, not the arthritis.
* Lost ability to concentrate and remember things. Again: this is a known effect of chronic pain, but MTX has made it worse.
* Depression. I had never been really clinically depressed before the autumn 1999. It lasted for a couple of months and was horrible: I sat and cried for hours almost every day. And now, after a month of MTX I am feeling more down than I have done ever since then and I want to cry a lot.

I don't count feeling sick - that's an expected and accepted side effect. I just wish it didn't make me unable to work for two days - that makes the rest of my working week so stressful and hard.

My back also hurts worse than it's done for years, but I don't think that is related. I have, however, this far not seen any positive effects of the medication.

I am going to write an e-mail to my doctor now.

At least they're quick

They called from the hospital about an hour after I sent my e-mail and I have a scheduled phone call from my doctor next thursday. Until then I'm staying off MTX; I have too much work that needs to be done.

What I'm reading now

I'm finished with Ska'd for life, which I really liked and recommend if you're interested in british popular culutre of the 80s and am now enjoying nerd-vana (as they would say in "Get Fuzzy") with the second volume of The legion of Super Heroes.