Reducing Methotrexate

Hello carole90704

I am on 5 mtx every Tuesday. I was on 4 but consultant raised it 6 months ago due to excessive pain etc. Didnt make a bit of difference. To me taking 4 or 24 its just the same.(slight exageration but you know what i mean. I do take btwn 4 and 6 codeine a day but this isnt ideal for the stomach and i have suffered a lot of weight loss. At mo 56kg. So am trying to cut painkillers down but its hard. Motivation isnt allways easy but we have to keep going thats one good thing about these discussions, it gets things off your chest. Ive had RA for 17 yrs been on mtx and humira injections for approx 14 -15 yrs. Gonna azk my consultant for a change of meds when i see him on 28th of this month. If i dont get any joy gonna go for a private consultation. Im 60 and off work at mo but i am gonna go back in a week or so. I work for myself in building trade. So determination is key, mine has wobbled just lately and while i respect this disease i will not let it win. Take care, good luck and thankyou.

Gaz

I looked up your drug on the internet.  According to the first result I got, Orion Pharma UK, it is quite a risky drug so reduction would seem quite sensible.  Stress over your mum, my empathies, would of course cause a flare.

This may seem a bit off the wall but I was talking to a friend about auto-immune disease (eg RA) and he suggested that... Well the body shouldn't attack itself and maybe it is in reality attacking a parasite that is wrapping itself up in the bodies own fluids in order to escape detection.  The body's most common parasites are increasing in size, toxoplasma gondii (a single celled ie protozoa), demodex mites (about 0.4mm) and helminths (eg roundworms, quite a lot bigger.  Doctors don't seem to get trained much in parasites and they don't know anything about vitamins and minerals (I recently asked mine if SAME was Ok to take as it said check with your doctor on the instructions - and he was clueless!).

The second one above is known for causing flares stress related.

Good Luck - TALK to your docto.re about this, they're there to help.

Why not ask if you can take some oral ivermectin (acaricide) just to be able to rule this out.  If it helps then both you and your doctor have a clue as to the cause. Hopefully.

Hi Carole, you could ask the doctor for a short course of steroids /30ml for 5 days or injection for a quick fix, I had these on the odd occasion if I had a bad flare, they work really well and the effects last a few weeks. I now take turmeric tablets and find them marvellous for pain and inflammation, alongside my main medication (etanercept), but they do take a couple of weeks to take effect. Hope this helps and so sorry about your Mum, very best wishes.

Sorry about your mum, Carole. It’s very difficult and I’m  certain stress  does affect our physical and other health.  I’m tempted to agree that 1 tablet ( 2.5mg?) is unlikely to cause major problems but combined with recent events may be having greater impact? If your GP would consider a short term of prednisolone you might get some effective relief in the interim and why not ring your Rheumy nurse for her thoughts. It’s a bit of a viscous circle. When I’m in pain my thought processes and coping mechanisms don’t work as well and when I’m stressed pain seems magnified. Thinking of you. Carol. 

Sorry about your Mum I would ask for a short course of steroids like five days, stress of any kind can cause a flare, this would surely help you. God Bless

Sorry about your Mom.

I dropped from 8 to 6 and my symptoms came back. But I wonder if the stress is affecting you.  I am assuming you didn’t get normal sleep.  When I was on 8 pills I had a flare from 2 nights of 6 hours of sleep.  Now I am very focused on not over doing.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

I wouldn't recommend steroids for an auto-immune system issue as they weaken your immune system and there is solid evidence that some patients with RA have gotten osteoporosis as a result.  There are nearly 150 listed auto-immune diseases so either the body (NOT the mind) is insane or the medical profession have been misled by a devious parasite or two or three who are only successful if they can manage to deceive the immune system thus.

 

Stress sometimes causes a flare up in my RA also. And when the stress goes away, so does the flare. If the flare is not bearable, you could take a short course of prednisone (a twelve-day course with a daily reduction in amount). That can shorten the flare. Ask your doc.