Methetrexate stopped...........what now?

parky2

Hi all

Havent posted on here in a few weeks. To be honest I have been feeling pretty bad. Started my methetrexate 4 weeks ago and have been feeling seriously ill. Constant nausea and was actually sick a few times. Anyway last monday I could take no more so went to see my GP who said that it would probably be best to stop my methetrexate. I have to go back and see her on monday week and not got another appointment with Rheumy until 21st April.

Firstly I am really worried that Rheumy will be mad because doc stopped my methetrexate and secondly I am really unsure as to what happens now. Doctor said that she may reccommend re-starting methetrexate again but surely this will just result in the same issues as I had previously?

Has anyone been in this situation before?

L xoxox

jeannie2

Hello Parky,
Yes, I've been in that situation with Sulpha and with Mtx. It's rotten feeling like that when you're hoping something is helping. They put me on another one and it really made me ill .... pills and me don't seem to get on together. An alternative may work wonders for you. As the others have said it seems to be trial and error - there are no shortcuts to a solution.
My Rheumy gets all tetchy when the meds. make me ill and gets ratty with me .... ignore it - I've come to the conclusion it's frustration. It must be a bit soul destroying for them that these meds. have such bad effects on some of us. Wonder if they would try mtx injections?
Keep your chin up and try to be positive.
Jeannie S

frogmorton

Poor old you Parky.
I bet you had such hope and now it's feeling like back to square one
I expect your Gp wants to see you Monday week to give him time to find out what to do too!
Maybe someone can come up with something for the awful nausea?
In the meantime try not to worry, as Jeannie says Drs must get frustrated with the meds not working too.
I hope your symptoms do not worsen.
Take care
Toni x

suncatcher

my metraxate was cut down for a bit as I had infections. They uped it again after a few weeks and then, I had 7 differant infections all at once so they took me off the drug for 4wks then they let me have metatraxate at 10mgs the dose my body could tolerate before i started having higher levels and the probs began and i am fine with that 10MG. Then they tryed sulp and that has been stopped due to me having probs. There are other drugs to try out there and hopefully one will work for us but its a worry i know let us know how you get on bestwishes from joanne

colinone

Hi Parky
Sorry to hear your not to good I have a rweal bad time with methotrexate i call it the devils brew, The rheumy should be ok with you dont worry about that. The problem is where do you go next and what drugs do get. As Toni says you put so much hope in the drug its a big let down if it goes wrong. I'm sure the rheumy gets dissapointed to as they want to sort you out. The bit that bothers me is that you take the drugs in hope and they just seem to cause you more problems. If its not that you are double sick with the arthritis and the side effects. I'm on MTX and Enbbrel along with steroids but they make me so ill. I have had my medication stopped now for 6 weeks as i keep getting infections. I have never felt so good in myself but the pain is so bad i need to get back on the drugs. Well parky i hope things work out and they find a drug for you that suits you, Take care and keep your chin up. Let us know what they put you on
Colin

parky2

Hi All

Thought I would pop back and give you an update.................didnt forget about you just been feeling pretty bad.

Spoke to Rheumy on phone (shock horror, didnt actually expect her to call me back) and she asked me to start my methetrexate again on a lower dose and keep them informed as to how I was getting on. Havent actually been able to do this yet as I had a really nasty cold followed by a chest infection which resulted in me sitting in the out of hours gp service last saturday night with a bunch of puking kiddies! Lol

Have appointment with GP tomorrow as she wants to make sure my chest infection has gone before I re-start meds. To be honest my pain has been pretty bad but worse than that I feel myself slipping back into that awful tiredness again, have never actually got rid of it but it had definately improved from how I feel now. I actually think if gp tells me tomorrow I cant start meds I will cry. Methetrexate made me feel awful last time so not particularly looking forward to that either.................seems like a bit of a no win situation!

Will update you tomorrow and let you know what GP suggests.

Hope you are all well

P xoxox

lindalegs

Hi P,

Glad you're keeping us posted.

Were you on any antimetics (anti-sickness) with your Mtx - if not you could possibly ask your GP for some? Even the sickness can settle down when taking Mtx and you could feel better on the lower dose. I have read some posting on here where some peeps say that if you have Mtx injections you don't get the sickness - would it be worth you asking about that?

Luv Legs