Sorry - me again - MTX Wk 3 Question ?

marion1952

Hi Breane

The hydroxy may be making you feel nauseous and possibly causing the headaches, rather than the Mtx.

I missed one week dose of Mtx earlier this year and didn't suffer any ill effects joint-wise, but I had been on it for a couple of years by then, so there was plenty of it in my system! I'm afraid I don't know what the effect would be if you missed a dose in the early weeks of starting it..

Marion

louise38

Hi Guys,

I found that mtx made me feel sick and sluggish until the daily folic acid kicked in. After that I just felt tired on the day after I take them. on 7 x 2.5mg now then 8 x next week. But it does take about 6-12 weeks to settle down (so I was told)!!

Got to say I love steroid injections - not the actual injection - but the may it erases the symptoms. I still over do things but I'm a lot better.

I was told by rheumy nurse that it doesnt matter how big/small, heavy/light you are when calculating the mtx dosage. She has a big guy on 10mg a week and he's great now. Its just individual.

Lxx

williamlargs

whitey44 wrote:

williamlargs wrote:

Hi

I suspect body weight may have something to do with it. If I remember I started on MTX about the same time as you. I go up to 17.5mg tonight and then 20mg next week ie started at 7.5mg then a further 2.5mg a week till I get to the 20.

Touching all things wood within a mile of me I have had no probs except being able to drop off at the drop of a hat. This has always been a party trick of mine anyway so don't know if its the meds or not.

Anyway I am 6 feet 2 inches and just short of 15 stones so this may be something to do with it. Having said that I'll probably take the 17.5 mg tonight and head straight for the big white telephone :?

Hope you feel better soon x

Thank you Williamlargs, you made me because it appears that not only do we have the same reaction to MTX, dropping off at the drop of a hat; (I started at 10mg then 2.5mg weekly until I got to 20mg; been on this dose for four weeks) we have shared the same party trick for years as well! I too am wondering if it's the meds because the pain seems to be worst all over, i.e never suffered as much with muscle pain, yet, MTX has reduced inflammation in my hands. Hopefully, there will be overall improvement in my wellbeing in four weeks (twelve weeks after starting MTX).

Has anyone with RA ever had pain and swelling in the sternum and lumbar regions :?:

Pure wishes to you all Whitey

Hello Whitey 44

Very interested on your comments as I was going to post someting regarding this today.

Yes I have noticed more muscle pain since starting on the Meth. Particularly in my arms and shoulders. Also I think the hand and wrist pain has eased.

I'm driving her indoors mad at night with my goaning when I try to turn as the shoulder and arm pain is not the best.

I am hoping it is a case of things getting worse before they get better. Sorry can't help you with the sternum and lumbar regions. Pardon my ignorance where are they anyway? :shock:

Keep in touch as we progress with the MTX.

W

williamlargs

babycham wrote:

Hello William ....Sorry but for me its ..heal thyself no longer convinced however as I to need some advisexxxB/Cham

Sorry babycham not quite with you??? Please elaborate

williamlargs

babycham wrote:

William sorry what I mean to say is I have had R/A for at least 17/yrs and have not had any conventional treatment at all ....... but I do struggle sometimes ...all these anti tnf drugs and such are an alien concept to me .....But I certainly understand pain... and wonder did I make the right choice ..I know one thing for sure non of us live lives that are spontanious anymorexxxL/Babycham

With you now Babycham.

For interest I spoke to a good friend of mine recently who has struggled with arthur for most of his life. When I mentioned going on to MTX he advised to go for it. His opinion was that as a young man he didn't get a chance to try these drugs and suffers for it now although a more jovial character you will struggle to meet.

Having said that I have more or less decided that if the MTX doen't work it's alternative meds for me. Rightly or wrongly :?

Sulphasalazine did work for me and if I hadn't taken the macho approach and asked to come off it the maintenance dose I was on may still have been working today. Then again maybe not :?:

May your days become pain free

tkachev

MTX is really knocking me out at the moment. It means I spend 2 to 3 days in bed feeling sick and listless. However I think I marginally prefer this to 24/7 pain. What upsets me is others cant see what you are going through. Even on the DLA forms they dont really take this into consideration.

Elizabeth

dreamdaisy

No-one knows until they go thro it themselves. DD

pols090607

hi all,

just thought i would update to where things are at.

i have taken metho for 4 weeks now.

Wk 1 & 2 = 7.5mg (things ok, slight nausea, tiredness - bearable)
Wk 3 = 15mg (knocked me sideways, in bed most of wkend, felt so sick and dizzy)
Wk 4 = 10mg (Hooray, think I may have the balance right or it's getting into my system ? No major side effects, slightly nauseaus and slightly tired but managed to be up about and even went the retail park to shop )

Pain Killer wise, I have managed to knock off the co-codamols during the day just on the Naproxen now morning and night.

I am hoping it's getting into my system as I am loving not popping as many pills !

My blood results have all been ok (just slightly anaemic but am working on that) so all in all things are pretty good.

Just wanted to post this as before I started metho most of the stories I read were horror stories so it may be useful to someone thinking of trying this drug.

hope everyone else is ok. xxxx

pixie01

Just reading this thread, as rheumy wants me to start mxt or sulphasalizine. Thinking will go with mxt. I was diagnosed last year, and am due to see him again in oct (may have seen my xray thread on neck)
Had put off starting as had quite a good year last year, but this year seems to be going down hill. But am worried about what day to take it on, as dont want to miss work if poss. Also hubby fed up with me, sometimes supportive sometimes not, feel have to keep going even when really tired
So what is a good day to take it? weekend best?
Thanks Pols its very useful ((()))
Jo x

nanarose

pols090607 wrote:

i have taken metho for 4 weeks now.

Wk 1 & 2 = 7.5mg (things ok, slight nausea, tiredness - bearable)
Wk 3 = 15mg (knocked me sideways, in bed most of wkend, felt so sick and dizzy)
Wk 4 = 10mg a

Hi, I'm a relative newbie to this site, but as I just started on mtx a while ago too, I've been reading this thread with interest. I'm a bit confused though - not hard, when you're me!

I started on 7.5 mg for two weeks, and since then my dose has only increased by 2.5mg every two weeks.
I'm now starting on 15mg, so I'll see how things go.

The thing is; why does there seem to be a huge variation on what dosages the Rheumatologists prescribe? Maybe mine is just very cautious in comparison to others?

I had very high inflammation markers, and have many swollen joints, so I wondered if there was any benefit to be gained from a bigger fortnightly dosage increase?

It won't matter much to me now, but I'm just curious.
So far I've only had one day of nausea after taking the mtx, so fingers crossed it gets no worse...you just have to hope for the best, don't you?

The best of luck to everyone who is still in the early stages of this treatment

williamlargs

Hello

I started on 7.5 mg of MTX on July 13th. I have, as instructed, increase the dose by 2.5 mg per week till I hit 20 mg last night.

So far I have had no side effects other than being able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I have always had this uncanny ability anyway.

Long may this continue as some poor folks on here have some terrible times with the drug.

All of us are different in how we react to this drug and all rheumys seem to be different in how they start people off on it.

Just wish it would kick in so I could get off the anti inflams and pain killers. :roll:

dreamdaisy

William, meth is not the silver bullet for arthritis. Doctors promise one all sorts of rubbish. Despite injected meth and humira I'm still on the anti-flimflams, painkillers, sulphasalazine and oral steroids. I dont' know why they bother with all the expensive drugs - co-codamols and steroids work the best for me!

Small increases in meth are necessary to avoid (or try to avoid) side effects. It is a highly toxic drug, cleared from the system by the liver - it is best to be cautious with it. It is true that rheumatologists vary quite widely in how they prescribe it, but if your doc is cautious that is a good thing. We are all at the whim of our docs. Someone posted recently, they had doubled their dosage in a very short space of time and things were not going well for them.

I forgot: Hello William! How are you and the aches and pains getting on? DD

nanarose

Thanks for the info, it's all so bloomin' confusing, isn't it?

Maybe the softly softly approach is working for me, as apart from feeling a bit tired, I've managed to bypass any of the nastier side effects of mtx - so far!

I take painkillers and anti-inflammatories as well, plus other little goodies - shake me and I'll sound like a maraca!

It's great that we have somewhere like this to come to and get loads of info and support.

Hello there DD - may I call you that? I just missed your post there...... any information is valuable. Thanks.

williamlargs

Hello DD

As previously reported aches and pains are tolerable if i keep takin' the pills!!

I'm with you to a certain extent. If the meths don't eventually make a difference then I am going to suggest managing on my daily cocktail of drugs plus some recreational grape juice etc

Hope your OK DD I know your never pain free but that things are tolerable.

Kind Regards

dreamdaisy

For some odd reason, William, it's all pretty good today, thank you. First reasonable day in ages,which is a shame because I will be lulled into a false sense of security and it will all come back with a vengeance! Grrrrrrrrr. I advise some adult Ribena for you. I reckon it will do you some good! It's good to hear from you - do you check in here from work? DD

williamlargs

As you can tell from this late reply DD yes I look in and post from work. Very rairly use the computer at home.

Glad to here you were having a good day yesterday. Hope today is as good if not better. I didn't have the best of night's sleep last night and just about to go into meeting :roll:

Talk soon

dreamdaisy

Oh! Try not to nod off - if you do, explain that the tedium of the people speaking was too much to bear, so it really isn't your fault! What do you do? And do you enjoy it? I had a good day yesterday, until it came to bed-time. That all went horribly wrong! As for today - well, I'll wait and see. I never really KNOW how things will pan out when I'm feeling relatively OK! DD (who works at home - v civilised!)

williamlargs

Now out of meeting and managed to stay awake. Just noticed my spelling mistakes in my last post. Must have been tired

My job title is a Product Manager with an agricultural feed supply firm and yes it's ok.

In my spare time I am football daft and play guitar in a rock cover's band 8) Never too old to rock!!!

What job do you do from home?

dreamdaisy

Oooooh! noeltone has put a footy thread on chitchat - contribute! My Scottish team is Stranraer.

I coach dyslexics of all ages and abilities. I've been doing this since 1993 and I love it. Business has tailed off quite dramatically thanks to the divine combo of Prudence Brown and arthritis but I can still manage a couple of lessons a week. Anymore meetings today or can you now slope off to your car for a snooze? DD

williamlargs

Just back from lunch now. No more meetings today but leaving at half two to attend the funeral of an old employer who has sadly passed away, at a ripe old age though.

After the wife and weans(children) Rangers are the love of my life although according to June they come first

Think it's because I keep telling her I loved them before I loved her

Straight home from the funeral to walk my trustie springer spaniel 'Boss' then no doubt fall asleep in my chair much to 'her indoor's' amusement.

dreamdaisy

I'm sorry you have a sad event to attend, but if it was a long and good life then say goodbye with a light heart. DD