Blog/Journal Type Entries

I'm on a Chemo Drug, But I Don't Have Cancer

Wednesdays are tough. Wednesdays are the days I take a medication called Methotrexate. Methotrexate is a drug that is used as a chemotherapy treatment, but is also used as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

The benefits of this drug, for me personally, have been just a little shy of life changing. I am experiencing less all over body pain, the severe neuropathy, carpal tunnel, and ulnar nerve issues that have plagued my existence have improved significantly. I still have severe issues with both of my knees, as I have damage from injuries, and wear and tear from obesity, but also degenerative osteoarthritis. I have had one round of cortisone shots to help, but unfortunately, a week after my first injections, I fell, and caused further injury to both knees.

Another side benefit of this drug comes not from this drug itself, but the folic acid that I have to take, as a chaser, so to speak, with the Methotrexate to prevent liver damage, which is one of the possible long term side effects. The folic acid has a minor benefit amongst the many huge and powerful things it does for your body, and that is hair growth. I was experiencing quite a loss of hair in recent years, and it had become so thin, that I was looking into wigs as a solution to hide this rather embarrassing affliction. I have noticed a lot of new growth in the few months that I have been taking this drug, and when I am brushing my hair, or putting it in a bun, I have noticed that it definitely feels thicker.

As I mentioned, this drug can cause liver damage, so I have to have routine bloodwork taken to ensure that my liver is okay. We have to be especially careful because my liver has already been through a lot due to contracting hepatitis when I was in middle school.

The one most notable negative side effect that I do experience occurs the day of the weekly administration of the drug. On Wednesdays, I know to expect feeling a little woozy and tired. It feels like being on a pain killer, and staying awake for the first part of the day is virtually impossible. More often than not, I end up in bed, or on the couch, absolutely zonked out.

The fatigue and general malaise lasts until late afternoon. This means that I generally do not plan to do much of anything on Wednesdays, and that is only because my body will not let me. It is the kind of tired that demands sleep. No way around it.

I only have one obligation on Wednesdays, and that is therapy. Luckily, it is in the morning, and I am able rest after. My fiancé has made it a rule that I do not have to exert any energy on Wednesdays. He has also deemed it "no cooking day", and he graciously grabs take out, or we go to a casual restaurant. He's a good one, I tell ya.

So I am off to therapy in about 45 minutes, then, undoubtedly, to bed. At least I have the sound of the rain outside our windows this morning, to serenade me to sleep.