Thinking about starting AP...need more info though

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am new to the group. I have psoriatic arthritis and have been on methotrexate

for 3 years...1 year orally and 2 via injections. In December I was started on

Enbrel because the MTX wasn't working quite as well as I had hoped it would. I

took 3 injections of Enbrel and got sick with a cough, fever and chills...was

off meds for a couple weeks while on Cipro then took meds again and two days

later started all over with symptoms..given a Z pack (3 days) and got better and

a few days later it was time for the meds again but the rheumy said only take

MTX and if I didn't get sick again the next week I could take both meds. In the

meantime I had had a chest x-ray and the radiologist called saying I had an

infectious process in my chest and recommended a CT scan which I had and was

referred to a pulmonologist who is going to do a bronchoscopy next week. He and

the rheumy took me off both MTX and Enbrel for the time being. He thinks it is

due to either the MTX or the Enbrel but not sure and hopes to wash some bacteria

out to see what type infection it is. I am not taking either of those meds ever

again. My dad died of lung cancer, my sister died of lung cancer and my mother

died of COPD/emphysema. I have a first cousin with RA and she could not take MTX

because it caused her some severe lung problems. I am not going to flirt with

those things. That is why I am researching alternative treatments. Anyway,

glad to be here and hope to learn what I need to know here!

Sharon