I have been emailing back and forth with a friend with whom I had lost touch. His wife had died a few years ago of pancreatic cancer. I told him that I had RA which is why I haven't been around as much recently. He replied that he has a friend who is on methotrexate - which is a form of chemo for their RA.
Eeek! I had not considered that Methotrexate was a form of chemo. I take it in pill form weekly so its not like I go for an infusion or anything. I looked it up on Scott Hamilton's Chemocare.com and found out its true.
The thought of being on chemo again had always freaked me out. I mean who wants a port, baldness, and nausea again? But they snuck it in on me. They said it was for RA treatment, they never mentioned chemo. So I guess its easier to cope.
My mother was on methotrexate, at a lower dose than me, for years, and we never considered it to be chemo.
Which brings up a point. If a drug is used to treat cancer, they call it chemotherapy. But if the same drug is used to treat something else, can't we just call it a medication for rheumatoid so I don't have to think I am on chemo again? Doesn't it come down to semantics here?
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