Methotrexate tablets/injections

Meredith020
Meredith020 Member Posts: 4
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:07 in Living with arthritis

Hi all,

This is my first time in a community group and I am hoping that I will find support and understanding from you all.


I have psoriatic arthritis (amongst other things!) and I am on weekly methotrexate injections. Unfortunately I am registered with sciensus and despite numerous calls and live chats with them, I have not had my medication delivered and have no injections left. I do however still have methotrexate tablets and am unsure if I am ok to take them in place of the injections. I have tried to speak to my consultant but no luck, the sciensus pharmacist didn't contact me as requested by the call handler and my gp is unable to help as my consultant is responsible for my care. I am really struggling to find anyone to tell me yes you can take the tablets or no you can't.

I fully understand that non professionals cannot give medical advice but any help would be appreciated

Thank you xx

M

Comments

  • chrisb
    chrisb Moderator Posts: 669

    Hi @Meredith020  

    Welcome to the versus arthritis forum. 

    You’re looking for support and understanding, well you’ve absolutely come to the right place. I’m sure you’ll find our community very responsive and supportive. 

    You are taking methotrexate, have run out of injections and would like to know if it’s ok to take methotrexate tablets instead. As you rightly state, we are not able to give medical advice but hopefully forum members will be able to provide you with some input based upon their own experiences with methotrexate. 

    I hope that you receive some useful feedback, your injection delivery service recommences very soon and your consultant gets back to you shortly. 

    Best Wishes

    ChrisB (Moderator)

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • Thank you Chris

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 443

    @Meredith020 It is a shame your GP has abdicated their responsibility as overseer of your medical care & well being. Although not responsible for treatment, they ARE responsible for ensuring their patients are well cared for by the referred consultant/org and make the necessary calls to find you another more responsive consultant. (Not responding to you without good reason does seem a serious breach).

    While not the same situation, when I had a medical emergency like this I went to A&E, as an on-call consultant (rheumy in your case) in A&E will still have access to your nhs records and make a better guess than your gp or yourself on the oral dosage equivalent.

    Try to find a less busy time at A&E (or less busy A&E), ie not weekends/Fridays.

    Monday/Tuesday seem better in my limited experience of A&E.

  • Thank you for taking the time to reply. I feel reluctant to go to A&E as I don't consider myself in urgent need but also feel that I am being left with no alternative access to medical help

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 443

    @Meredith020 No prob, if you have run out of SC MTX & neither your consultant nor your GP is sorting it PROMPTLY then it is indeed a medical emergency fit for A&E as you may have underlying conditions that may be exacerbated by the absence of mtx. Neither MTX nor steroids should be started or stopped without close supervision of a rheumatologist. You have done all you can to stay out of A&E, but now you need to get professional help. Hopefully you have your tablet dosage & prescription before you switched to injection handy and there have been no changes to your injection dosage since, as that would require recalculating your tab dosage.

    If you were switched to injection because you were maxed out on tab dosage then its another problem the consultant has to sort out.

    So don’t be shy, go get help.