Methotrexate

Has anybody taken this drug for their UC? My GI is now suggesting I take this, he said something about a pill a day. I apparently have to go see him to learn more, which isn't easy as its a 2 hour drive there. Imuran appears to be causing issue with pancreas so this is what he is suggesting next.
I just posted another thread that mentioned my BMs were sort of back to normal, but now I just had a completely normal, formed BM. Not sure if the Imuran started working finally or my body needed almost 2 weeks to adjust to the lower dose of Prednisone as I lowered it to 10mg almost 2 weeks ago. I also started taking Align probiotic last week, not sure if that is helping as well.

I haven't heard anything mentioned about this drug on here before and am hesitant to take something that could be even more harmful than what I was already taking. I'm not sure what my options are at this point. I suggested cortisone enemas but he didn't want me taking just another form of steroid.

Thanks for any info you can give!

I understand that it's usually used hand in hand with a biologic drug. My mom is on it along with Remicade to treat her RA.

I would really look into this further. I had a GI doc once suggest this drug to me and then upon a second opinion from another GI, I was told its not that effective in treating UC. I never ended up taking it.

My GI was open to me taking methotrexate during my last flare up. I thought it was kind of weird since she wouldn't prescribe LDN and I don't think either medication has too much evidence in treating UC. I have seen methotrexate being used more commonly in Crohn's than UC but my GI said some people have a good response to it so I would give it a try based on her recommendation if I needed to. I definitely think the enemas would be better than being unable to taper down on prednisone. Did you ask about 6mp? Have you tried any other 5ASAs? Are you still taking Yasmin?

My GI said 6mp would also affect my pancreas if Imuran did so looks like that one is out for me. I'll try mentioning the cortenema again and see if he is open to it at all. I used to take Asacol for years but switched to Colazal due to possible hair loss. Colazal worked great for many years till that one doc told me to stop taking my meds. I'd love to just be on Colazal and the mesalamine enemas for maintenance if I could just get off Prednisone without flaring again. I am still taking Yasmin and have never had any with taking during my 10 year remission. In fact, having my period once every 12 weeks helps keep me from flaring up as my period really upsets my UC.

I do not have the dx of ulcerative colitis, however, this post caught my eye due to my taking methotrexate. With my medical knowledge, and personal knowledge I can safely inform you that you need to do your research on this. Look up case studies, pro's, con's, FDA approval. To my last information, methotrexate (aka MTX) was NOT approved by the FDA for ulcerative colitis. However, depending on the studies, and knowledge gained from the studies, it may be worth the try. It is a chemotherapy agent, there of, it will lower your immune system and it will be harder to recover from a cold, so on. It also depletes the natural folic acid in our bodies, so we're supposed to take 1 mg PO QAM QD EXCEPT on days of MTX (that is 1 mg every morning every day of folic acid except the day you take the methotrexate). It is also my understanding it is approved in other countries, however, not the United States of America. I do not know if it comes in pills, because I have to do the dosage by IM (a shot in the stomach).
In my personal case, I am taking MTX for NOT approved by FDA diagnoses. I have a rare tumor, and it has shown productive in studies. I've had only mild side effects with nausea. I was not responding to chemo that was to the tumor I have so the doctor suggested the methotrexate. I used my medical knowledge to research it, and made my informed decision of what to do. They also suggested another medication, but I didn't like that side effect of "it can cause this which leads to death." Never ever saw horrific side effects for methotrexate so I took the gamble, despite it not being FDA approved. Guess what, it is working for me! My tumor is slowing down growth!
I tell everybody to inform themselves, and you should too. Only you can make that decision hon, and before making it you should know what it is all about for pro's and con's and everything else in it.

You know that phrase about doctor's make the worse patients? It's not true, it applies to everyone in the health field :P

Methotrexate is a textbook example of why public funding for medical research is so important. No one in the private sector is going to pay for a study to find out how effective the drug is for ulcerative colitis because they won't be able to patent it and make money off it.

Sounds like it might be very similar to Imuran then with the tiredness and the liver blood tests.  Imuran made me very tired when I first started it but that subsided in about a week luckily.  My liver tests always came back normal and not elevated at all, but I'm not really a drinker. Maybe one 'girly' martini a week or two, but I don't drink anything when I'm flaring.  I've been feeling a bit better the past few days so I may mention to my GI tomorrow if I can first just try tapering the pred and see how that goes. I can always go back on it I suppose.  Seeing as how I'm at 10mg and my BMs went back to normal, that is already better than I did last time I tapered. Not sure if the Imuran could be finally helping though, I hope not since I have been off of it for a week now.