Methatrexate and weight gain

[frisky]

Methatraxate

I've been taking for 6 months. In this time I have gained over a stone, which is quite upsetting, as was hoping to loose wait as reducing my prednisone. When I mentioned this to the consultant he said unrelated.

Has anybody else experienced this?

Anna

[lesleyg]

Oh dear I was really hoping to lose some weight! I've always tended to overweight but have put on even more in the past two years (up to 94kgs now) - which is not good for 5" 3" (160cm)

Lesley

[Hidden]

I know taking prednisolone can result in weight gain, though opinions on the reasons why tend to vary - the most popular and proven being that patients on pred eat more because of increased appetite. I've never heard of weight gain on MTX though, only stablisation or weight loss as it tends to make some people feel sick. A stone in 6 months isn't a huge amount - could there be any small changes that you haven't noticed? A bit less activity than usual or something like that? If you are still on pred it could be that.

[frisky]

Don't be put off. I have the first time in 2yrs started to have a life again. Things aren't perfect but I do have the energy to have the occasional night out. Maybe that's the weight problem solved?

Good luck..... X

[andreafm]

I have been on methotrexate for 5 to 6 months now and haven't gained weight since I have been on it.

I gained a horrible amount with the Predisolone and this affected my mobility, which only made me put on more weight and so was glad when I started reducing the prednisolone.

My consultant says that the weight issue starts to reduce when the prednisolone goes under 7.5mg, which I am glad to say this happened for me eventually.

I have however gone up on the prednisolone again, but luckily so far my weight hasn't gone up with the increase.

So it may well be that it is the prednisolone that is causing it and not the methotrexate.

Hopefully as you reduce the prednisolone your weight will start to reduce and then feeling better with the methotrexate will also help with this.

Hope this helps

Andrea

[devonshiredumpling]

Nope - never had weight gain with the methotrexate. In fact, if anything my weight went down a little. And at 5'0" and 93kgs every little helps

[Sunset]

Hello frisky;

ONCE A MONTH unless you are using methotrexate, a complete blood count, urinalysis, sedimentation rate, SGOT, SGPT, creatinine inspections must be done definitely. When using prednisone, holding the body of water and salt generates edema. Be utilized for treatment,

To discuss;

[lesleyg]

You have all given me a bit of hope re weight gain. Silly isn't it - it would be far better to be overweight and healthy than have the perfect figure and be sick.

Cheers

Lesley

[Hidden]

It's not silly at all. It is extremely common for BD patients to stress about weight gain/loss, hair loss, skin problems - anything to do with their appearance. Why not? We are humans, we have feelings, we care about how we look. Weight gain may not be 'important' in the context of the disease, but feeling confident, positive and good about ourselves certainly is so doing what we can to deal with those things that upset us are as important as taking medication.

[devonshiredumpling]

Far from silly Lesley - I even avoided going to a family wedding because of the way I look. My skin is horrendous at the moment and, as you know, the cushings has done precious little for my figure! I've been really miserable about it and, as Tigerfeet says, this is just normal behaviour.

When the steroid fat was at it's worst I would much rather have been sick and in pain than take any more tablets. Then, when the pain and illness returned and I had to walk with a stick, the fat-ugly syndrome didn't seem to matter at all

[andreafm]

For me the weight gain of the steroids intefered with my mobility.

I have very weak muscles anyway and so being so much overweight [about 7 stone more than I was at it's highest] made the improvement of my condition rather counter-preductive.

I don't want to put people off from taking steroids, I am still on a lower dose now and without them I don't think I would of made any improvement.

But there comes a time when the side affects begin to outweigh the improvements.

I have been on steroids for over 4-5 years in total and it has taken 6 months to start to feel better on the methotrexate, but gradually it does start to make an improvement and then you can gradually start to work down on the steroids.

I have been ill for over 20 years and didn't have any medication at all until the last 4-5 years and I feel not having the medication for 15 years contributed to my getting neurobehcets and so life without the steroids was very difficult for me.

When you are living with this horrible condition daily it is hard to measure improvements day by day because they change so much. It is difficult to see the improvements but I tend to compare what I was like say 1 year ago to what I am now...and can definately see an improvement from then.

I was originally on 60mg of prednisolone daily in the beginning and as I said, put on 7 stone but am now back down to 9.5mg and have lost 4 stone of that already.....and my mobility and fatigue, uclers etc are improving as time goes on with the methotrexate.

Having tried 3 immune suppressants already it is a bit of a relief.

The medications we have do seem slow to react but you need to persevere with the methotrexate if you can, because I thought it wasn't working for me to begin with...but just recently I feel I am beginning to turn a corner.

I hope this helps people to keep going, as it is a long road

Andrea

[frisky]

Thanks I'm finding the methotrexate the best of all my treatments so far. Feeling almost like a human,

This is a horrible illness and so frustrating as nobody has a clue, about it even the professionals, so no wonder friends and family can't grasp it!

The weight gain does make me self conscious. Especially in my job as a pilates teacher! I feel like getting a tee shirt with "no I haven't let myself go I'm on steroids!!!!" oh well at least this year my hair hasn't fallen out like in the previous two years!

Well back to the diet.

Thanks for everybody's support.

Anna x