Up coming operation and mtx

[hawky]

Hi all hope you are having a good day I have to have surgery on my foot soon I'm on 20mg mtx weekly I've been told to not have my mtx after surgery until I am healed stitches ect I'm worried the RA will get worse with no meds but understand this could delay the healing proses has any one had the same problem x

[Hidden]

I'm afraid I can't answer your question, as I had a mastectomy in 2012, and continued to take MTX 25ml injections) as nobody told me I should stop it. I suppose it depends on how long you have been taking it for as to whether you will get a flare. My rheumy says it does take a while before not taking it affects you. I hope someone else with better information for you comes along soon. Good luck for your surgery. x

[hawky in reply to Hidden]

Thank you x

[Tinwoman2]

In the US, they tell me to stop all meds 2 weeks before & 2 weeks post-op too. I started back on prednisone immediately after the surgerys though, on my own. The pain killer meds will help with the pain some too.

Good luck,

Christine

[hawky in reply to Tinwoman2]

Thank you x

[mcrparader]

I had a completely ruptured tendon in my right ankle July 2014 last year, it went undiagnosed for 2 1/2 months. When I had my op I was asked to stop my MTX for 1 week - the week of my op. I had a colposcopy the night before my op also.

During the preop check in September my ALT liver enzymes were raised to 198. So I was asked to stop taking MTX until further notice. It has taken until this week in May 2015 for my ALT to come back to normal.

During this time I have taken all of my meds as normal. Around the time of my fall in July 2015 I ended up taking huge amounts of morphine, luckily I work in a school so it was all fine during the summer holidays. I had 3 months off work after my op. In February and March this year I had my rituximab infusions as normal. I have had regular flares, steroid injections as well as having to take morphine for really bad flares.

I shall be restarting MTX in 6 months time after my liver has had a full rest on lower dose.

I had around 2 weeks after stopping my MTX before my first major flare. I'd been asked to keep a diary by my rheumatology team, using my personal planner which they gave me.

You have to remember though that everyone is different and so is their RA.

I hope that helps.

[Livingston]

I've had to stop MTX for up to 3 weeks for low white counts. I found that the stiffness was really picking up during the third week but otherwise it wasn't too bad.

The surgery may add another dimension though - an extra stain on your system that might tend to encourage flaring?

[hatshepsut]

I had a full knee replacement last year, and had to stop my

biologic until the scars had healed, BUT did not have to stop the MTX. The consultant rheumatologist at the hospital was jubilant that after 10 years he had finally convinced the orthopaedic surgeons that it was NOT necessary to stop MTX when undergoing surgery.

I was fine........and wouldn't have been if I had needed to stop MTX for 6+ weeks.

Hope the op goes well. M x

[Jhac27]

I had a foot op in September last year and stopped my MTX until the wound healed which took 3 weeks. I didn't flare and had no problems with my RA . However inMarch I had a severe dental infection and had to stop MTX for 4 weeks while I was on antibiotics which did cause a flare. It took about 6 weeks after restarting the MTX for my RA to stop flaring. I carried on with my other medications as usual including hydroxychloroquine.

I hope your foot op goes well and your RA doesn't flare if you stop your MTX .

[Dekeboo]

I started 20mg of mtx per week in October last year and in January of this I had a laparotomy to remove a huge tumour and no-one mentioned stopping the mtx. I continued to take it throughout my recovery and I don't think it was hindered in any way. It is probably different for everyone and I hope your consultant can advise you what's best for you.