Methotrexate injection

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has anyone been given the injection ? And is it easy to use , I am on the tablets but they have giving me stomach ulcers so need to switch . I hate being on it as it also lowered my blood count so on iron tablets 

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10 Replies

  • Posted

    ​My mum was taking Methotrexate table for her RA and she recently shifted to injection route. It certainly offers better tolerability in terms of gastric side effect and efficacy too. However, buying syringes and sticking yourself with a needle each week can be a hassle. Some people are actually needle phobic. Moreover, risk of liver damage remains the main concern, and is monitored by frequent blood tests. So you may need to undergo frequent monitoring as that of oral one and continue with iron tablets too in spite of route you choose. Taking 1 mg of folic acid per day can help reduce other side effects related to Methotrexate use, such as mouth sores or gastrointestinal irritation. Discuss with your doctor, to know the best suitable option for you.
    • Posted

      Hi odam yeh that's why there shifting me to injection ,because I got ulcers and they only found out because my blood count keeped dropping. I wish I did not need to take any of these tablets as now I have more problems than be four I take folic on Fridays Saturday and Sunday thank you smile

       

  • Posted

    Ask if you can have the pen rather than a syringe. It's easier and you dont think of it as giving yourself an injection. One click and it's done, it's painless and no bother at all. Dont worry about it, you'll manage fine x
  • Posted

    I used to inject with prefilled syringes, so no hassle with getting syringes, but recently swapped to the pens and they are SO much better! So easy, relatively painless compared to the syringes, and I don't work myself up anywhere near as much as I used to before injecting, which I believe has helped with the nausea. Would encourage you to ask for the pens! 
  • Posted

    Hi Zena, the side effects of methotrexate do not change by going from tablets to injections. Are you taking prescribed folic acid with this ? Importantly 5 to 10 mg wkly on a day taken on a day the methotrexate is not taken. Not taking folic acid will cause stomach nausia terrible. Also methotrexate lowers your immune system and triggers infections in your body making the RA worse for me and so many others. The blood count is quite reduced due to this and what is needed is far more than just iron as levels are off with many vitamins and minerals which are very poorly absorbed. Your colon is highly inflamed causing ulcers is inflamed and this could very well be what I had that triggered my RA, called Ulcerative Colitis. The doctors did not tell me that milk, gluten, soy, coffee,and very raw vegetables wereand fruits were hugely aggravating this, causing the disease to be unmanaged and also causing needed mega nutrition or vitamins and minerals (immune deficiency) to not be absorbed then causing my auto immune diseases. Please see a colon internist doctor or DO doctor rather than an MD doctor. To begin healing and absorbing nutrients again in your colon, eat very nutritious home cooked soups made with vegetables and chicken or bone broth..staying away from the above foods that keep your ulcers in flare scraping your colon wall or adding toxin by products (milk, glutens and most grains, raw vegetables and uncooked fruits, coffee, high sugars, tomato sauce and spicy foods, etc). The iron tablets would seem very much to cause much more pain and be very hard on your stomach, and as an RN nurse, am very confused why you would be prescribed them. I would very surely stop taking these and work on healing your colon walls. For myself, methotrexate was causing problems being treated to exist, triggering other infections, even with the absolute requirement of folic acid with this. My research revealed that only 30% respond to methotrexate and acts as poison to many including myself. I paid close attentuin ti my body and triggering toxic symptoms and went off after 2 months.
    • Posted

      I'm sorry, I have forgotten to mention that cooked beans and green beans, cream or milk, and flour should also be greatly avoided in the nutritios soups when a colon or stomach is ulcerated. Eventually after some proactive healing of them has happened, you can slowly reintroduce some fresh fruits and vegetables in small amts, and take a natural probiotic called kifir milk in just 1 Tablespoon portions once a day slowly building up to 1 oz daily. No dairy such as milk or ice cream...these are disastrous as is coffee acids. Nutritious cooked soups and cooked fruits are hugely healing. I liked to add rice in mine as well. I supplemented with dry rice cakes and gluten free bread.
    • Posted

      Hi cheria thank you for information my ferrous count dropped and the RA sent me to get my colon and stomach tested with the cammera ,my colon was ok but I had ulcers in my stomach , am getting treatment for my ulcers now .. My RA said they are going to take me of the tablets and start me on injection so it will bypass my stomach . I take folic tablets on Friday Saturday and Sunday . I would rather not take any methotrexate and in truth I not seeing the benifit of taking these tablets . I don't eat any meat as am a Vegetarian ,but did not know about green beans or beans being bad I will give this a go in not taking glutton ,so your not any of these medicine not ? As I said I would rather not take anything thank you once again .
    • Posted

      Hi Zena, bleeding ulcers symbolizes infection.. .I think methotrexate is not a good medicine for many people...this medicine lowers our immune system badly and triggers infections..why have you been prescribed methotrexate? It is not effective for many people, has toxic effects, and actually triggers infections and other painful conditions. It was very toxic to me and caused me to have many infections that led to much body pain. I could not continue doing this to my body. I tried ither RA medications, failing biologics also, which also lowered my immune system, inducing body pain and infection. The stomach sickness or side effects you speak of with methotrexate tablets, according to my own research, shows that this toxic side effect does not go away going from tablets to injections. I only commented on the beans in the soup due to your stomach ulcers needing healing before the roughage caused by beans scrapes the ulcers and keeps them raw like raw vegetables do. Methotrexate felt to my body as if it were arsonic. I would only take this for 2 months and then decided there were to many negative effects and did nothing positive for me. My RA doctor backs me up on how medications react in my body, and my intuitive decision to stop and try another. I currently take plaquinil which has very few side effects but took about 6 wks or so to fully get into my system. Because its slowly helps me, it feels much healthier and without the toxicity of the other RA meds I have taken. I have been pretty much in remission for 4 yrs.. About once a yr I may possibly flare but it is usually due to to much sugar or not enough nutritients, an imbalance of them, not enough sleep, to much stress (self induced or environmental) eating high inflammatory or allergy foods) etc. I get this under control with a short term prednisine pack.
  • Posted

    I have psoriatic arthritis  cheria for the past 4 years now I see a doctor that deals with this problem they give me regular blood tests . I did not know that there was other drugs that could help with less side effects ,I've been on the tablets for 4 years it was because my ferrous level dropped a lot they sent me to get the cammera to look inside my stomach they found the ulcers . The hospital doctor told me that they are going to change me from tablets to injection as that would be kinder to my stomach , but the thought of injecting myself makes me scared . Am going to ask them if they can give me something dirfrent thank you .
    • Posted

      Yes, the medication I use is plaquinil, but I have read that this medication can trigger a bad psoriasis flare for you. I did not know that this kind of arthritis is connected with this skin condition. I've read that stress (self induced) or from external environments along with unbalanced absorption of vitamins, nutrients and minerals contribute to the evolvement of this. Is methotrexate managing this, and is this causing your secondary disease of ulcers in your stomach? If your blood levels are low, are you anemic? If this is true, has your doctor prescribed the multiple vitamins and nutrients you would then naturally be low in due to this? The bleeding ulcers in your stomach sound serious and also are a very serious effect that pharmacists warn about from the prescribed anti inflammatory medication prescribed daily for arthritis. Since I am a serious candidate as well, I am prescribed mobic (meloxicam) for my inflammation, which has never triggered my ulcers to bleed and flare me all over. Other anti inflammatories would be very high risk for me. Do you have a diagnosis name for the ulcers? There are biologics that can be prescribed for you instead of the methotrexate but many doctors try to give us both seeing if one enhances the other, but they both induced terrible fibromyalga pain, multiple frequent flairs, and compromised immune system, inducing internal body infections, so I tried the biologic without doubling up. The biologics like humira, are injected from a pen just once a week(I did not choose the syringe style) and it really wasn't to bad..its just the snap of the pen, and because I have a tendency to be hypersensitive, I calmed myself by lightly icing (which lighly numbed) sometimes. It sounds so much worse than it is but I chose to pinch up skin from my stomach area as I barely felt anything. I was mostly hypersensitive to the sound from the snap of the pen. The biologics were so much easier on my system than the immune system drug methotrexiate with its side effects triggering body infections. Can you tell me which anti inflammatory drug you are taking and if you have been greatly warned of the dangers of certain ones more than others causing serious bleeding and ulcers from your stomach? This alone can cause serious anemia and low blood levels, malabsorption of nutrients, and a perforated stomach wall, which is of course fatal and why pharmacists warn serious about the side effects. Because your gp does not warn,and watch out, and prevent for the serious side effects of malabsorption and serious stomach bleeding, I would prob be contemplating another gp, who is watching out for me much better and takes malabsorption of nutrients very very seriously, along with the manistification of serious ulcers very likely caused from the serious side effects by his prescribed medications.

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