1. Community
  2. Skin and nails
  3. Urticarial Rash

Third time lucky with Methotrexate?

Posted , 3 users are following.

katieohla
katieohla

Hi Everyone,

It's really sad reading everyones posts, I sympathise with you all so much! Although I'm happy to have found this forum to learn from your experiences.

I wonder if any of you out there have experiences methotrexate at all? If so how did you find it? Did it work for you? How about the side effects? Sorry, so many questions.

I have had urticaria now for 4 years, but also suffered with excema all of my life. My eczema is usually controlled pretty well with bathing in emmollients, using moisturisers and steriod creams when flaring. As the eczema has always been there, I always thought I coped with this quite well. It's the urticaria that really gets to me. It's AWFUL!

Anyhow, I have taken cyclosporine on two occasions for 3 months at a time (which worked wonders to my skin!!) however due to side effects of high blood pressure and kidney problems had to come off them. Taken azathiorine (which also worked wonders) and again, had to come off due to side effects, this time liver problems. Now I'm on waiting to start methotrexate, lets see if that works! I have had to give my liver a rest in between meds. Pretty harsh! Also tried montelukast/anti histamine combo, this didn't work for my skin. I have been taking prednisolone on and off for years but solidly for about 5 months solid now, I am so greatful for this just to be able to get by day by day, I'm trying to ignore what these might be doing to my body! I also take 2 x 180mg fexofenadine a day, also chlorphenamine for night time to sleep a bit better. 

I have all my fingers and toes crossed that methotrexate will be ok for me, and I don't experience side effects that badly that I have to stop taking it. 

I really appreciate all of what my Dermatologist has done for me, and am so greatful to for being looked after. I completely understand that finding medication that works is completely trial and error, and we are in effect guinea pigs to modern medicine. What might work for one person, won't work for someone else. What might work for your skin condition might be a problem for other parts of your body! You just don't know!

Fingers crossed for third time lucky for me, I've got high hopes for this methotrexate!! I hope all of you sufferers out there are getting somewhere with your meds and can keep your urticaria fairly under control. 

If anyone has experience of methotrexate, both good and bad, please let me know :-)

Thanks for reading,

Katie

 

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Guest
    Guest katieohla

    Posted

    We had great luck with using cheap vegtable margarine on my daughters eczema. That and banning use of fabric softner from the house.
    • katieohla
      katieohla Guest

      Posted

      Hi Wendy, ooh I've not heard of using that before, I will have to give it a go. I've tried coconut oil before, the smell was a bit offputting and It didn't really work!
  • tony09890
    tony09890 katieohla

    Posted

    I've been on methotrexate for about a month now, not for urticaria but for RA.   It has actually made the RA worse, but I'm told the methotrexate could take up to six months before I see an improvement; or, there may be no improvement.   I have suferred from itchy skin all my life: eczema and sebhorea also and recently was diagnosed with chronic urticaria.   After suferring through the Dermatologist's treatment of antihistamines and steroid creams which saw the urticaria spread I started experimenting:   I stopped taking statins, aspirin, ibuprofen and one of my BP medications about two months ago and tried numerous remedies I read on this forum. I've tried, epsom salts, vinegar, calamine, oats, saline, sorbolene, pinetarsal and a plethora of other suggestions, the only thing that eased the itch for me was saline followed by the application of sorbolene; however, it did not cure the urticaria.    About six weeks after removing statins, aspirin, ibuprofen and coversyl I started washing with pinetarsal and using ultra violet treatment, the combination of those treatments and cesation of the medications seems to have worked and I am now free of the itch.   No idea which one actually worked, perhaps the combination, I don't really care.   Statins, coversyl, aspirin and ibuprofen are all proven to cause skin problems in some people, so if you are on any medications google them to see what their side effects are, that's where I would start.
    • katieohla
      katieohla tony09890

      Posted

      Hi Tony,

      Thanks for your reply. Wow, 6 months is a long time to wait for potentially seeing any improvements. I hope you do get some relief from it though. 

      I heard about the ibuprofen etc from my Dermatologist, and stopped taking all of those kind of drugs a while ago now. I'm not sure I've noticed any difference, but didn't really take much anyway. 

      I tried a low histamine diet for a long time too, I'm convinced that foods & drink full of preservatives, colours and general nasties irritate my skin, however the Dermo said that changing my diet won't help.

      It's funny everyones different opinions that may work for one person and not the other. 

      I will certainly have a look into some of the points you've mentioned taht I haven't tried yet, thanks for the tips.

      Hope your RA becomes a little more confortable, and the methotrexate works!

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.