Methotrexate - is it possible to feel 'healthy' whilst on it

snowdropping
snowdropping Member Posts: 10
edited 3. Mar 2017, 06:12 in Living with Arthritis archive
So I've been told I need to start taking methotrexate which I'm a bit scared of.

I'll still be taking plaquenil alongside it. Plus co-codamol plus naproxen. I feel this is a lot of pills for one person to take.

I've a friend who takes methotrexate and she says about how toxic it is, apparently it's called the dirty drug. I'm terrified about what it can to me.

Is it true that methotrexate can shorten your life? I read this somewhere :shock:

Anyway, I wondered if anyone takes methotrexate and still managed to feel healthy? I'll plan to eat healthily but I'm concerned about how strong it is and that I'll be too wiped out to exercise etc.

Any experience?

Thanks

Comments

  • dreamdaisy
    dreamdaisy Member Posts: 31,520
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I've been taking meth for many years now and feel fine. I do occasionally have a day of being extra tired after my dose but apart from that nothing. I also take an anti TNF called humira, again with very little trouble.

    It is true that meth is a strong medication but we take it at very small doses compared to its use in other treatments. It is necessary to control disease activity, the sooner one begins the better the outcome will be for you and that is the most important thing. If you are not used to taking regular medication then yes, this will feel unsettling, even daunting; I don't think any of us on here enjoy our individual regimens but I know I cannot manage half as well without the meds as I do with them. DD
    Have you got the despatches? No, I always walk like this. Eddie Braben
  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    'A bit' scared of meth? Or a lot scared of it 8) (This is your second thread on the subject :wink: ) It's OK. It's perfectly natural and normal to feel scared when going on a new DMARD. Most of us do. They are strong meds.

    But 'dirty drug'? That's a term guaranteed to raise anxieties and seems quite meaningless in that all drugs have unwanted side-effects. Indeed, if it hadn't been noticed that patients with an inflammatory arthritis improved when taking the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, you and I wouldn't be reaping the benefits of it for our arthritis.

    I honestly don't know if meth can shorten lives but I do know that uncontrolled inflammatory arthritis can. As for your other meds, meth and hydroxy are a tried and tested combination. Once the meth kicks in you will probably be told to stop the naproxen. You might even find you can manage without the cocos.

    'Healthy'? Yeees, I think that's a very 'moveable feast' :lol: What I mean by healthy and what my husband means by it are very different things. I've had RA since I was 15. I'm now 70. My RA was essentially untreated by DMARDS for many years. As a consequence my only decent joints are those which have been replaced. I eat healthily and exercise regularly but my idea of exercise is not his. However, the meth and hydroxy have made the last 17 years or so much better and healthier than those that went before and have enabled me to exercise more. I no longer experience the crushing fatigue of a flare.

    I can understand that, if you feel OK, it must be very hard to start taking strong meds. But, without them, you won't feel OK for long. This really is the best way.
    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • palo
    palo Member Posts: 240
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have been taking methotrexate since 2005 and for me it was a life-saver and I was finally able to function like a near normal person again ( I don't take it for arthritis).

    I have many times heard people express major concerns about taking it, I look upon it as risk and return, if the risk is worth the benefit of function better then you have to weigh that up against your current existence.

    There are currently no safe options for my auto-immune condition MG (the main alternative is high dose steriods - for me approx 40mg daily), so I just have to live with all the consequences, and I look at it I'd rather be able to enjoy my life today than live say an extra 10 years unable to function for all that time or take the high dose steriods (I currently take only 7mg daily). Life is not about its length but its quality and how much you appreciate it.

    So I will make the most of today and let tomorrow take care of itself....

    But also prior to the methotrexate I was in and out of hospital a lot.

    Good luck.
  • MissKat
    MissKat Member Posts: 124
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I took Meth for 4 years before trying for a baby, probably the fact that people call it 'Meth' doesn't help with its 'dirty drug' connotation! It was (I believe) developed originally in the 40's as a cancer treatment, but as SW says, if it wasn't for the fact that Drs realised it was helping peeps with Arthritis we wouldn't be benefitting from it now...

    I was also nervous the first time I took it having heard about various side effects, luckily for me it wasn't so bad. Frequent mouth ulcers & occasional sore throat but otherwise okay, and I never had a flare whilst on it. Which is the opposite to what I can say for Sulfazalazine which I am on now!

    Good luck, and hope it works for you x



    So I've been told I need to start taking methotrexate which I'm a bit scared of.

    I'll still be taking plaquenil alongside it. Plus co-codamol plus naproxen. I feel this is a lot of pills for one person to take.

    I've a friend who takes methotrexate and she says about how toxic it is, apparently it's called the dirty drug. I'm terrified about what it can to me.

    Is it true that methotrexate can shorten your life? I read this somewhere :shock:

    Anyway, I wondered if anyone takes methotrexate and still managed to feel healthy? I'll plan to eat healthily but I'm concerned about how strong it is and that I'll be too wiped out to exercise etc.

    Any experience?

    Thanks



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  • pot80
    pot80 Member Posts: 109
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I have never had any problems with methotrexate over 6 yrs. I have always respected it and have never felt the worse for wear taking it.
    It has improved my well being and never completely stopped what I want to do. I like the great outdoors and enjoy walking; we have a large garden to tend so I get the grass cut which gives time to enjoy the plant side. I said to my consultant that I could not walk as many miles as I used to and his reply was that providing that I was not suffering a flare up then he was sorry but it was due to my age.
    I think I was 79 at the time and now at 82 I still managed to lead a walk of 6 miles before Christmas. My dose has come down from 10mgs to 7.5mgs recently and it has been left to me if I feel that I need to go back up to 10 again. Take heart it can work without side effects but we are all different.