Use of Methotrexate and other basic drugs in rheumatoid arthritis

In order not to turn into an old woman bent under the weight of the past years and as long as possible to keep the lightness in the whole body, take care of your joints before you get the SOS signal.

As you know, the skeleton is the basis of the body structure, and the joints are the areas where the bones converge, allowing it to be flexible. Gradually, with age, bones lose calcium and other minerals.

Together with them, the density and mass of bones are lost. The same goes for the spine, with time it twists and contracts.

In the process of these changes, the joints become firm. The fluid in them can drop, and the cartilage when rubbed against each other, are destroyed.

The same action is due to calcification due to the deposition of salts in the joints. There are a number of diseases of bones and joints, to which people are prone after 40 years, and women among them are 5 times more likely than men.

patients Rheumatoid arthritis is a dangerous but treatable

. One of these unpleasant diseases is rheumatoid arthritis. Joints swell, become painful, there is a fever. The mobility of the joints decreases, especially in the morning.

Significant severity of arthritis or its acute form may be accompanied by general weakness, leukocytosis, febrile condition.

Rheumatoid arthritis can affect internal organs. If you are concerned about redness and pain in joints with puffiness, visit an orthopedist and rheumatologist.

Treat the disease correctly

The first symptom is joint pain, which prevents sleep, walking, and, trying to get rid of it, people are ready to try any miracle medicine.

But many of the widely used drugs do not relieve rheumatoid arthritis, but only help in complex treatment.

Let's try to figure out what this or that medicine is used for.

Drug Therapy - The Basis of

Basics Modern medicinal methods for controlling rheumatoid arthritis are divided into several groups.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

They are traditionally used to eliminate joint inflammation and relieve pain. After the elimination of these drugs pain, you can go to physiotherapy procedures. NSAIDs act quickly, and often because of the effectiveness of this treatment, the patients will again use them again next time.

It creates a deceptive impression that these drugs help to cure, but NSAIDs only relieve the symptoms of the disease, and arthritis in the meantime continues to progress.

Glucocorticoid drugs

With their help in many cases, the patient's condition is greatly facilitated. Preparations for corticosteroid hormones are administered to the affected joint. They are good in that they contribute to the rapid suppression of inflammation and painful sensations in swelling and swelling of the joint. However, like NSAIDs, they should be used in complex therapy.

The injected medication will not immediately give effect, the doctor can fix the result of the procedure 10-12 days later.

Basic preparations

They have an impact on the basis - the basis of the disease. These drugs are able to interrupt the development of the disease. But unlike NSAIDs and hormones, the basic drugs do not take away the symptoms of the disease in the first days and weeks of their use.

Their drawback is that the action takes place in about a month.

Basis preparations stop the development of rheumatoid arthritis and within a certain period of time give an improvement.

But even an experienced specialist can not predict the result, and the result depends on the experience of the doctor, and on his intuition.

Basis therapy uses drugs of five groups:

1. Antimalarial medicines - the result of application can be felt in six months - a year, provided they are continuously taken. Of all the basic drugs, they are the weakest. Starting with them basic therapy can be in the case when the disease is poorly expressed, and to apply stronger drugs there is no sense. The dignity of antimalarial drugs is good tolerability and no side effects.
2. Gold salts - help patients in the initial stage of rheumatoid arthritis, with a rapidly progressive disease: the appeared rheumatoid nodules, bone erosions, with significant indicators in the blood of the RF - rheumatoid factor. If the patient does not receive the expected help from NSAIDs with severe joint pain and morning stiffness, then the use of gold preparations can bring positive results.
3. D-penicillamine - if treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with methotrexate, folic acid or gold salts does not help the patient, or these drugs are canceled because of their intolerance by the body, then the doctor uses D-penicillamine. And although this medicine is not inferior to the mentioned drugs, it is even more toxic and more often contributes to complications. Side effects occur in it in 30-40% of cases, so treatment with this drug is prescribed only in the most extreme cases, when the patient is in urgent need of emergency care.
4. Sulfanilamides - antimicrobials for the strength of therapeutic effects are less effective than gold preparations and methotrexate, but can be compared in terms of effectiveness with D-penicillamine. The main advantage of these drugs is their good tolerability. Antimicrobial agents even with long-term use almost do not give side effects, and small manifestations are not severe. The lack of sulfonamide drugs - in their slow action on the body: the improvement of the condition comes after three months of treatment.
5. Cytostatics are considered to be the most effective group of basic drugs for the treatment of all types of arthritis. Their therapeutic result is positive for 70-80% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Adverse events are observed in every fifth or sixth patient, but do not differ in the severity of the lesion.

Allergic rashes, minor urination disorders, upset of the stool, all this takes place after the cytostatics have been discontinued. To monitor the patient's condition, it is necessary to examine urine, blood from the finger and vein during taking medications.

If the patient tolerates cytostatic therapy well, then the improvement will occur in 2-4 weeks.

Currently, rheumatologists are most often used to treat rheumatoid arthritis 3 cytostatic drugs:

• Lleflunomide, or Arava;
• Infliximab, or Remicade;
• Methotrexate.

How to use Methotrexate: instructions for use

Methotrexate is considered to be the best basic drug for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis - it has forms of internal, subcutaneous or intravenous administration.

If the patient has problems with the digestive system, the drug is given in injections.

For the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, the drug is given only once( 7.5 mg) per week, in old age or with kidney disease - 5 mg.

During the treatment course the drug is taken on a specific day of the week, the beginning of basic therapy. The effect of treatment usually appears after 30-40 days from the beginning of admission and reaches a peak after 6-12 months.

Methotrexate is recommended before meals.

After determining the tolerability of the body, after a month the doctor can increase the dose by 2.5-5.0 mg per week, maximum, up to 25 mg per week. After the result is achieved, the dose is reduced to therapeutically effective.

The duration of the therapeutic course is determined by the doctor based on the results of the treatment.

Do not use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the day of taking the drug. The rest of the week, the use of NSAIDs is not forbidden.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a very complex disease, but the use of Methotrexate helps to keep the disease under control, and sometimes to achieve a sustained remission for several years.

Combination with folic acid - double hit by disease

Folic acid is used during the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with methotrexate, and has a beneficial effect on therapy. This combination has a positive effect on the result of treatment.

Folic acid is prescribed in combination with Methotrexate, and its reception protects the body from side effects during therapy.

Individual use of folic acid should be avoided in order not to get undesirable effects.

When should this treatment be abandoned?

Any medicinal product is a double-edged weapon. Therefore, its use can lead to all sorts of complications and adverse reactions.

Treatment should be discontinued if the following reaction is observed in the patient for the drug:

• severe hepatic and / or renal failure;
• drug intolerance;
• pregnancy;
• lactation;
• oppression of bone marrow hematopoiesis;
• immunodeficiency.

Or there were side effects, such as:

• impaired renal function or signs of cystitis;
• toothache, nausea or vomiting, dizziness;
• decreased appetite;
• drowsiness, headache;
• itching, rash, fever;
• expressed visual impairment;
• cirrhosis of the liver.

From the practice of

patients Patients' reviews of Methotrexate treatment are generally unambiguous: its use has led to significant improvements in health or complete cure for rheumatoid arthritis.

Thanks to these procedures, many of those who suffer from joint disease admit to keeping the disease under control.

Patients report that after treatment with a drug, they are less likely to sit "on sick leave", felt light in walking.

In some patients, the use of the drug caused side effects, for example: rash, cystitis, nausea, decreased appetite, liver pain.

After these manifestations, the dose of the drug was reduced, or the treatment was revised. Especially, such complaints about the deterioration of health are noted in patients in senile age.

The drug provides an improvement in cancer diseases: bone cancer and articular cartilage.

Therapeutic therapy with methotrexate is complex: it tries to return not only mobility to the joints, but also to relieve human suffering from pain. The experience of using this method proves the effectiveness of the drug and its safety during medical supervision.

But, no medicine, and even the best doctor will not help if the patient does not take up his health: he will turn to a specialist in time and not start his illness, because joint treatment is a long-term thing.