Drip, Drip, Drip Goes My Nose

Ever since I started taking both Methotrexate and Enbrel I've had a drippy nose. Not constantly, just all of a sudden, out of the blue, my nose starts running. It's not stuffy or anything. There aren't any symptoms other than the sudden dripping, like a faucet being turned on then off again, multiple times a day.

Rhinitis is the actual medical term for the condition, and it's one of the adverse side effects of those two medications.

When I mentioned the drippy nose to my rheumatologist at my last visit, she queried, "Allergies?"

I said, "No. I've never had any seasonal allergies, plus I've had the drippy nose ever since I started taking the Methotrexate and Enbrel back in the winter." In other words, even though I know you can develop allergies as an adult, it didn't just started with all the spring pollen floating around in the air.

But, oddly enough, in the last couple of days, the drippy nose seems to have been on the decline. My RA symptoms overall have been better, too.

Is there some odd connection? Drugs working better, body getting used to them, less drippy nose?

Ahhh, the mysteries of RA!

Oh Lordy! Part 3

Dec. 25
My feet swell up Christmas night.* I can feel it as it happens, they swell that quickly. Merry Christmas to me!

*A quick call to the pharmacist (whom I now know by her first name – I even have her cell phone number if you can believe it!) the next morning reveals that since I've had five doses of Voltaren, it's unlikely the swelling is caused by an allergy to the drug, but rather the busyness of the season. That despite the fact that I pretty much gave up on everything but the bare essentials well before our Christmas Eve celebrations. Nonetheless, she advises more rest. My sisters kindly allow me to sit about, as they have already through all of our celebrations, with my feet up – literally and figuratively!