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Methotrexate - anyone here have experience with this?

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Posted 6/25/2008 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
Yesterday my sister finally saw someone that acted like a real doctor.  :-)    This one is a female and actually took her time, did a thorough exam, asked a lot of questions and listened.  She is going with a tentative diagnosis of "probable lupus with arthritis" and has, in part, prescribed methotrexate (Rheumatrex).  Just wondering if anyone has had experience with that and, if so, I'm hoping you'll share some details...we already know it is prone to cause nausea, which will be unfortunate if that's the case since her weight loss now totals thirty-three pounds.  Incidentally, two vials of fluid were drawn from one knee (OUCH) and one vial from the other (ouch) and both knees were injected with cortisone.  I think (hope!?) we may be heading in the right direction this time...... 
Posted 6/25/2008 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
This is a favorite topic over on the Arthritis forum their is a thread titled "Anyone starting methotrexate-I'm scared" It has about 10 people posting their experiences with starting out on this drug. I will give a brief account of my experience here but feel free to check out that thread,

I am on about week eleven or so I take 6 pills (15 mgs). My first two weeks went very badly as I had a rare cross reaction between the mtx and the NSAID I was on. After that I have had no problems-no side effects. I never had any GI symptoms at all.

Advice-take it at night, drink tons of water the day before and after, take folic acid everyday starting a few days before you take the mtx, if you experience any side effects take more folic acid (up to 5 mgs per day have been studied and seem to be safe) and report side effects to your doctor.

After ten weeks I was able to get off prednisone for the first time in eight months and I have no joint inflamation or pain.

Let me know if their are more questions I can answer and do stop by the arthritis board and see what whimps we all were about starting this med and how well most of us are now doing.
Sj
Posted 6/25/2008 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that that was my original diagnosis, and I was also on mtx for sometime. It can cause nasuea, but the folic acid helps some with that, and they should give her a pill she can take when she actually feels sick. Those work wonders. Aside from that, mtx was my best friend for quite awhile. I hope it works for your sister, and I'm glad to hear that you may have finally found a good doctor for her!

Posted 6/25/2008 10:06 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on MTX since the middle of February, I take 3 (2.5mg) tabs every Friday. I already take 3mg of folic acid daily for mouth sores but I usually take an extra one the day I take MTX. I have tolerated it very well and it took about 6 weeks for me to see a difference in my joint pain. Be sure to tell her to take it with food, my doctor told me to take it with a large meal, not just a piece of toast or bowl of cereal. I hope it works well for your sister, let us know how she is doing.
Posted 6/25/2008 11:49 PM (GMT 0)
I took MTX for many months (20 mg) and had no nausea from it. I was a bit sleepy the next day or two . . . but it actually improved my fatigue too. Blessings!
Posted 6/26/2008 4:29 AM (GMT 0)
I took mtx for about 18 months. The pill form had no effect on me but the injections worked quite well. Like Rosie, I was a bit tired and "ill" for a day or so after giving myself the mtx injections but it improved my fatigue and helped me quite a bit. I seemed to "plateau" and could never quite go off the prednisone so my rheumy put me on Arava. The Arava has been great (I still cannot taper down on the prednisone, though) and I can tell I am getting better each week. I will keep you in my prayers!
Posted 6/26/2008 5:57 PM (GMT 0)
After posting, I went about my business and wondered why I wasn't getting any email alerts about any replies. Probably because I didn't flag that message to send them to me! lol Not to mention I subsequently found comments about MTX from someone else's earlier post and felt a bit ditzy about overlooking that too. This anxiety about my sister's welfare has scrambled my brain (even more than normal--ha).

Anyway...I'm passing everything along to her and am tremendously grateful for all the good people here who are so generous to share...especially with a "middle man/woman" such as myself. Hopefully, she may be able to join in on her own behalf soon. : )

I am really feeling encouraged by the mostly positive feedback on MTX and am crossing my fingers and toes for it to work as well for my sister. I'm SO glad to know it has helped so many here (even if my sister's situation hadn't come to be in the mix...make sense?).

I just spoke with her a few minutes ago and, two days after seeing this latest doctor, she is feeling a bit more flexible in her legs today. I imagine the cortisone is kicking in by now. She took the first dose of MTX last night and hasn't felt sick so far. PTL and keeping everything crossed for good measure on that one.

Special thanks to Sj for directing me to the Arthritis forum. Normally I'd have probably thought of that myself...but did I say my brain's scrambled?...and I need all the help I can get.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU...EVERYONE!!!
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