wendy,
been thinking of you and how the MTX just doesn't seem to be cutting it. but how you need to go through these other drugs before being able to consider the biologics.
anyway, didin't think LDN had been shown to be effective for RA, but had a really interesting conversation with my compounding pharmacist today.
he's very interested in how patients are responding to LDN. when i told him that for me, it doesn't seem to stop the inflammation, but seems to allow the body to rid itself of it in days vs the typical weeks to months. he said that description of not preventing it, but getting rid of it, sounded just like some of his RA patients describing how it works for them. and so i immediately thought of you.
came back here, did a little googling, and found this:
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ldnforra/index.htmllooks like LDN might be a viable option for someone with RA. looks like it really could work.
so was thinking before you move on to the biologics, maybe try LDN first?
its cheap, relatively speaking,
its safe, far as they can tell, and long term history for use at the higher doses,
few if any side effects, some say issues with dreaming / sleeping at first,
but honestly, i never noticed a single side effect,
and for me, i'm very prone to side effects.
drugs work very well for me, both as they should (the good) and the side effects (the bad).
so just thinking, maybe worth a try.
seems the way to get it if your current doctor(s) aren't too keen on it is to find a local compounding pharmacy, ask them for names of local prescribing doctors, then get an appointment with that doctor. for me that would have been a doctor that mixes traditional western and alternative medicine and doesn't take insurance so all visits out of pocket, but my rheumy did take a chance on LDN so didn't have to go that route. don't know exactly how things work in canada but still think its worth considering.
thinking of you
