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Methotrexate

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 8/23/2009 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
Hey everyone.  I have a question about methotrexate.  I've had crohn's disease for about 7 years.  I've been on every med there is for it.  I've had surgery to remove my ileocal valve and the terminal ileum.  I had an ileostomy for three months then the surgeon reversed it and said i would feel great, i could eat whatever i wanted,  you know the dream of anyone who has crohn's disease.  He made it sound like i was going to be cured.  Anyway 7 months after i was reversed my gi did  a colonscopy and he found that i had a recurrence of crohn's at the reconnection site and also in my colon by my rectum.  So he put me on apriso for the colon and i started cimzia.  well the cimzia was helping for about 2 months then i started to get horrific pain in my throat and i started getting a swollen lip and canker sores in my mouth.  went to my gi doc and he said we needed to do an upper endoscopy.  He found out i had ulcers from my mouth all the way down to the top of my stomach.  Also he said that the fat lip thing was either an ulcer in my lip or it was the herepes virus that everyone has but is suppressed normally.  because i was takin the cimzia it allowed the virus to come out.  So he put on an antiviral med for that.  so far it made the swelling in my lip go down but i still have someting going on there.   i see him on 9/1.  we'll see what he says.  anyway he told me to stop the cimzia and he was probably going to put me on methotrexate.  i'm really scared to take this drug.  i've heard it reaks havoc on your liver.  also i'm only 27 years old and my husband and i were considering having another baby when i was well enough.  gi doc says DO NOT GET PREGNANT while on methrotrexate.   it's a cat x drug meaning it would deform a fetus.  anyone on methotrexate and am i just being overly sensitive to the risks.  does it work because right now i'll take any relief i can get.  thanks.  sorry it was so long.
Posted 8/23/2009 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
Many have had success with Methotrexate. But with you wanting to have a baby, maybe it might be a good idea to talk about another med. Or......go ahead and go on the methotrexate for now to get things under control and switch to another one later on? Just a thought.

Good luck!
Posted 8/23/2009 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
I just had my first shot of Metho 2 days ago.  I haven't had any bad reaction yet.  Like you I am still young, and I want to have children, I told my GI this and he said thats fine but I absolutely CANNOT get pregnant on this drug, and that I need to get on another form of birth control other then condoms as soon as possible.  He said when the time comes that I want to have a baby I can discontinue the Metho (under his supervison) and after having the baby I can start back up on it.  He's also putting me on Cimzia, I'm not sure exactly why hes putting me on both at once I didn't have much time to talk with him because I was given these meds while I was admitted to the hospital the other day by one of his partners I'll have to talk with him more about it at my appointment this week.

Posted 8/23/2009 5:26 PM (GMT 0)

I have been on methotrexate for 7 years with great success. It takes a few months to work so be patient, but the inflammation levels in my blood halved each month for the first few months I was on it (until I had remission induced with a dose of infliximab) and have had remission periods of up to 3 years (any flares are nipped in the bud with a single dose of infliximab)

I'm 22 now and have lead a totally normal life on it, I'm a uni student and still drink etc and my docs have said this is OK as long as my liver function remains good (has been absolutely fine for the whole 7 years, obviously if anything changed I'd curb the drinking but having said that now I'm getting older I don't drink as much anymore anyway) I used to get a lot of throat infections but they were pretty minor and lets face it is nothing compared to a Crohn's/arthritis flare up!

In terms of the whole pregnancy thing I'm on the Implanon implant, recommended because of the Crohn's as it bypasses the whole malaborption issue and is very effective as I was told that I absolutely could not risk getting pregnant and wouldn't want to at this time in life anyway but when I decide to have kids thats a bridge I'll cross when I come to it.

I know it sounds like a scary drug but it has been around for years for a reason - it can work very well! I hope you get as much success as I have had!

Posted 8/23/2009 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Obviously you should not get pregnant when taking the drug. It is given in low dose for crohns. I dont see the question. The attention here is reocurrance at the connection site. perhaps you have read or advised of this possibility, so you rely on this drug. But your doc said "probably" ..was there another choice?
Posted 8/23/2009 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
I love MTX I take it for RA and have now been symptom free for 22 weeks.
Take a lot of folic acid if you go on MTX it helps to prevent side effects. Have your liver enzymes checked every six weeks.
Posted 8/23/2009 11:02 PM (GMT 0)
there really is no other choice. i've been on everything else. i just wanted to know if people were being helped by this drug and if everyones liver is funtioning as normal. thanks
Posted 8/24/2009 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
My liver functions have been normal and I have been on MTX for 3 years at 25mg. I think the MTX works for my AS but not so much for the Crohn's as I still need pred for that.
Jo
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