mtx injection

[gudhi]

this is the second week of the mtx injection on low dose but i feel very tired and unwell are these the side effects of mtx injection? .

i dont realy suffer with pain mainly body very stiff and inflammation.

love to hear other views.

thanks

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It can take quite a while to get used to MTX. Even at a low dose.

Are you taking folic acid, on several days?

Another thing you might do is drink lots of water to flush your system out, this helps me.

And I have heard that it can be useful to inject at night, and sleep through the beginnings of the side effects.

I have persevered and it is now making a significant difference to my symptoms. I never need anti-inflammatories, and rarely take paracetamol. But I do still get fatigue and a bit nauseous occasionally.

So give it a few weeks would be my advice.

[Hidden]

Hi Gudhi,

I tried for several weeks on 10 mg MTX injection, felt horrible most of the time, sick and unwell for most. Did not work for me, so I was started on another DMARDS. The

Here are so many out there it may be worth asking if you can try another one. One thing I have found with this disease is everybody reacts differently and for every success the will be someone who has that same drug and no effect. I believe you need to get onto a higher dose for it to be of any real lasting benefit ....speak with your rheum.team and see what else they can offer.

Katie

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Hi Gudhi. I've been on MTX for 18 months now. I made it up to 17.5mgs on tablets and really felt the difference in terms of RA but couldn't tolerate the sickness, bad taste or liver raise so was switched to injections at 15mg. This was much better for 2 months and then once again I started with nausea and foul taste.

But on the plus side RA was far better controlled so I put up with it and even rose to 17.5mg but finally could bear it no longer and have now come back down for a month and just had my first 12.5mg.

Unfortunately a lot of ache and stiffness is coming back but on the plus side I've had a week of no nausea or foul taste so worth it perhaps. The jury is still out for me but the injections are significantly more effective for sure and I feel that if I'm going to take this drug this is the best way to do it. I have tried Suloha and Hydroxy so am running out of options unless I switch to the older ones or Leflunomide but I have high blood pressure so this isn't an option for me.

The biologics are the next ones for me I think but I don't think I will qualify unless my RA gets worse - which it may well do now I'm on the lower dose. You need to keep on MTX or try Leflunomide for the biologic drugs to work properly so its a bit of a catch 22 for some of us with side effects v disease. Good luck - you might well find it wears off as your body gets use to it? Tilda

[trace65]

Hi, feeling tired and unwell could definitely be side effect of MTX or could be your RA itself. Its worth persevering with the MTX as your body does get used to it. I've had 3 MTX 20mg injections and was really ill after 1st one, no effects from 2nd and a little bit queasy and headachy after 3rd so things do fluctuate. I have felt tired since starting MTX tablets though so not sure if that will get any better. I think drinking loads of water is really important though, I didn't with the first injection and was ill and have probably been drinking less again this week hence the headache today.

Hope you feel better soon, Tracy x

[nellysgran]

Hi I have been on MTX injections for a while now and my RA is certainly feeling better, I had side effects when I started but I persevered and glad I did. please give it a try it does take a while to kick in,

Wendy xx

[kizzy12]

hi i have been on 20mg mtx for 9 years now and still have nausea and feeing really ill for 3 days after taking it..have had to adjust my life around it x

[Hidden]

Until recently I was on 25mls Methotrexate injections. I felt a bit more tired that usual, but pretty soon adjusted. The only problem I had was bruising at the injection point.