Complete Dumbass or Technology Miracle?
At the same sit-and-spin dinner meeting, my resident hypochondriac and psychosomatic attention-starved nutjob--my husband calls her a "malingerer"--made my jaw drop onto the table. Either she knows something I don't, or she's a complete dumbass. You tell me:
A woman was mentioned to head up a fundraiser. I ask if she has cancer. No, I'm told, she has crippling arthritis. Well, that must not be the same one I'm thinking about, sez I, because I'm thinking she's the one who I called recently and had just returned from a harsh chemo treatment. So that must not be the same one.
Not necessarily, jumps in the malingerer, always wanting the last word. I give her The Look. Which says, are you stupid, or what?
They use chemo to treat crippling arthritis, too, she says with a shit eating grin on her face.
Wha??? I can't pass this one up. I have never heard of that in my life, I sez.
It's true! Malingerer protests. My brother-in-law has had it done.
Malingerer, I sez, chemo destroys your cells. It has terrible side effects. Why in the HELL would they give chemo to somebody who has arthritis?? Malingerer just sits there with the same shit eating grin. I never get an answer to my question.
So: medical miracle or does Malingerer add complete dumbass to her growing litany of woes??
--Virgil
posted by contemplator at Saturday, April 22, 2006
6 Comments:
Well, this is purely anecdotal, but... my mil had bad arthritis and when she got cancer, the oncologist wanted to try treating with radiation after the surgery because "in his experience" chemo made arthritis symptoms much worse.
Hate to give it to her, but methotrexate is used both in some cancer treatments and in severe rheumatoid arthritis along with a some other auto immune diseases (psoriasis for one). I just went to one of the arthritis sites to check my memory on the med used, and a drug reference site to make sure I remembered use in cancer treatment.
Is that "chemo" as people refer to it in general, or a drug with dual purposes? I have no idea.
On the one hand, she frequents hospitals when there isn't other drama in her life, so maybe she WOULD know. On the other hand, she went to the hospital 53 times in the last year. I kid you not. She ain't that sick. But medical stuff that other people don't know gives you a leg up, I guess.
I think so - it kills rapidly growing cells by affecting their metabolism, hence the use in both cancer and psoriasis.
A description can be found at http://www.medicinenet.com/methotrexate/article.htm
The mechanisim by which it helps with RA isn't known yet,
Huh. Well color me stupid, I guess. I would think Chemo has such terrible side effects they'd only use it as a last resort.
Not all chemo has the same side effects. Not sure exactly what they're likely to be with this one.
It's certainly not a first line drug, but bad rheumatoid arthritis or a whole body case of psoriasis that won't respond to other treatments could well warrant even some pretty bad side effects. I manage my psoriaisis without that level, but I think if it covered a lot more of my body, I'd consider it. I'm pretty sure some of my family members who had RA or lupus (SLE) would have considered it had it been availabe to them.
I wouldn't color you stupid though. :) These are pretty heavy meds and a lot of people don't realize how bad some of the autoimmune diseases get. I only know because I have an interest in both that side of chemistry and a personal and family history with some of the diseases involved.
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