Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lymphoma
Having rheumatoid arthritis can increase the risk of a cancer called lymphoma. If you have RA, here's what you need to know about the arthritis-cancer connection
By Nancy Ross Flanigan
3/1/07 Maureen Lengel, 52, has been through a lot since being diagnosed with arthritis in her teens: several surgeries, including hip replacements, and an assortment of other treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. Lymphoma is the last thing....
Knowing this, I decided that aggressive treatment early on was best for me. I was prescribed quinoric by my rheumatologist. The drug benefitted me quickly I had rashes that I thought were dermatitis - they went in 2 weeks of treatment, as did the thrombocytopenia symptom of bruises, my joint pain improved after just one month, and the "cluster" headaches i had went immediately. I thought it was coincidental until I stopped the drug - the cluster type headaches came back immediately. I had to stop the drug due to blurry vision. It still hasnt gone right, and i have to see an eye specialist next week. Quinoric rarely damages the eyes and almost never in such a short space of time, so I am optimistic that i will be able to resume this drug soon. I became very ill the day after I stopped taking it,m with a flare up that was dreadful. Quinoric is a milder less risky drug that most, methotrexate can have nasty side effects, none of the treatments are risk free, but the illness itself is so horrible that the trial and error of finding the right medication is worth it, if not upseting and worrying and unpleasant sometimes. We need more research desperately - we seem to know so little about autoimmunity and the drug treatments too.
I dont regret starting this treatment and even if my eyes are permanently damaged, the rheumatologist made a good choice of first drug to try. The alternative was to wait for me to develop further damage to my joints and possibly other problems that can kill.
I am an B.S.N.,R.N. who was diagnosed(DX) with RA in May 1989 by 2 Rheumatologists.
I was 36 yrs old.
I was put on the first line of treatments back then, which were NSAIDs, which didn't help.
I was then given methotrexate and cortisone in June 1990,a new treatment.
I had to sign a release form to start the treatment.
The from said I may develop cancer but I was in so much pain for over a year and nothing was helping so I took my chances.
I thought that with the monthly blood tests and having a clean chest X ray at the start of treatment that I was OK.
I was DX with stageIII Hodgkins Lymphoma in Aug. 1990,2 months after treatment started!
I had developed a cough so the Rheumatologist decided to do another chest X ray, I had clavical and aortic lymphatic tumors!
I had no family history of Hodgkins Disease,which is lymphatic cancer.
After staging, testing to see where all the tumors are in the body,I had surgery to remove some of the cancerous tumors and then put on 6 months of intensive chemotherapy to cover the other tumors that could not be operated on which ran from my neck to my groin.
I was only able to finish 5 months because the chemotherapy caused bleeding and sepsis.
Fortunately, I was in remission after 5 treatments.
I am now cancer free but was told to watch for Leukemia in approx. 20 yrs due to the chemotherapy treatment.It is now 20 yrs later.
Please research the effects of all the meds that you take before starting treatment.
Hopefully this info may help someone.
-Lung cancer is not associated with these meds
-RA itself is associated with lymphoma even without treatment
-Untreated RA can be a "death sentence" if you can't walk or use your hands
-Methotrexate has been around forever and no drug reps are pushing it
-your family doctor is going to have no idea about the dosing of methotrexate so has no business saying they are "shocked' as the dose of it
They do not check you for lymphoma or anything other than the blood tests for liver and kidney function and white blood cell counts.
If you are not aware of the symptoms of all the horrible things you get from taking the methotrexate and immune suppression drugs you could be dying and not find out untill it was too late for treatment.
Also, your thyroid is affected and your blood pressure goes up with these meds.
The only thing the drug companies do is re-invent the wheel when they come out with a different name and different company offering the same immune suppressants with the same side effects.
The last one I tried until I became too frightened to take any more said your pancreas could also become a casualty of the medicine.
Also, the rheumatologist prescribed a high dose of methotrexate, so high that my family doctor could not believe that such a high dose was given.
The doctors have no heart and the pharmaceutical companies seem to have decided that they will not develop a safer method of treatment except exchange RA for something much worse.
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