Sjogren's Syndrome

[Kel3]

Alongside Hashimoto's and Type 1 yesterday I was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. The auto-immune conditions just keep stacking up! I knew it was coming but it's still hard to hear. Due to other medical reasons I cannot take the baseline medication of hydroxychloroquine, or steroids, so the next medication available to me is Methotrexate. I have declined for now, and am giving it thought... Just wondered if anyone here is taking Methotrexate and what effect, if any, it has had on your diabetes management? Also if it is an ok medication to take, the side effects don't sound great!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear this @Kel3

I’m afraid I don’t know anything about the meds you have mentioned.

Hope you can find a treatment plan that works with the overlapping demands of your autoimmune conditions.

We have a few members with more than one autoimmune condition - they do seem to like to club together

 

[rebrascora]

Methotrexate is the new "wonder drug" like Amytriptaline was 20 years ago. My partner, sister and brother are all on it for different things.... eczema, polymyalgia and rheumatism. Thankfully none of them so far have had any obvious side effects from Methotrexate. They have to have regular blood tests to keep an eye on liver function I believe. My partner works on a farm and gets dirty cuts quite often which all heal pretty well so it doesn't seem to impact his immune system's ability in that sense and he rarely ails with anything. Unfortunately his skin isn't as good as with steroids though, so less benefit and less side effect. None of those 3 are diabetic though, so I am not sure how it affects BG levels if at all. It surely has to be less impactful than steroids in that respect though.

 

[Kel3]

Sorry to hear this @Kel3

I’m afraid I don’t know anything about the meds you have mentioned.

Hope you can find a treatment plan that works with the overlapping demands of your autoimmune conditions.

We have a few members with more than one autoimmune condition - they do seem to like to club together

Thank you.

 

[Kel3]

Methotrexate is the new "wonder drug" like Amytriptaline was 20 years ago. My partner, sister and brother are all on it for different things.... eczema, polymyalgia and rheumatism. Thankfully none of them so far have had any obvious side effects from Methotrexate. They have to have regular blood tests to keep an eye on liver function I believe. My partner works on a farm and gets dirty cuts quite often which all heal pretty well so it doesn't seem to impact his immune system's ability in that sense and he rarely ails with anything. Unfortunately his skin isn't as good as with steroids though, so less benefit and less side effect. None of those 3 are diabetic though, so I am not sure how it affects BG levels if at all. It surely has to be less impactful than steroids in that respect though.

Thank you, that is helpful for me to hear. My consultant said it would definitely better for my diabetes than steroids so I guess it's probably a case of giving it a go and seeing what happens.

 

[rebrascora]

Do let us know how you get on with it if you try it? Since autoimmune conditions are somewhat gregarious and like to meet up and party (wreak havoc) in the same body, it is something that other Type 1s may perhaps be offered and always useful to build up more knowledge on the forum of such treatments. I did wonder if newly diagnosed Type 1s might be offered it in the early stages of the honeymoon period to try to preserve remaining beta cells. Personally I am not sure I would want to be suspended indefinitely in the honeymoon period as I found it erratic and frustrating but for other people it rounds the edges off and makes things easier. I also wonder if they could be preserved, if at some point in the future there might be some way of cloning them to restore full function ie a cure. Anyway, that is just my mind wandering at a bit of a tangent. 🙄

 

[AndBreathe]

Alongside Hashimoto's and Type 1 yesterday I was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. The auto-immune conditions just keep stacking up! I knew it was coming but it's still hard to hear. Due to other medical reasons I cannot take the baseline medication of hydroxychloroquine, or steroids, so the next medication available to me is Methotrexate. I have declined for now, and am giving it thought... Just wondered if anyone here is taking Methotrexate and what effect, if any, it has had on your diabetes management? Also if it is an ok medication to take, the side effects don't sound great!

I know of two people using Methotrexate, one for RA and the other for Psoriartic Arthritis. It's a very powerful, but aggressive drug, requiring regular monitoring.

One person who was living with T2 found her Methotrexate doses to be reduced and stopped once she got her T2 under control. The other person eventually had their diagnosis changed from Psoriatic Arthritis to Coeliac. Needless to say he was happy to ditch the Metho, but very angry to have been taking it for a couple of years.

To be clear, both handled the Metho well. Both came off it for positive reasons.

Whatever you decide I wish you well. It's a lot to take in