stomach pains etc.,

[Martinilady]

I hope someone out there can help me. I keep getting stomach pains, diahorrea and sickness. Ive been off work several times because of it, Ive been to Docs twice and the 3rd time I had to have a house visit because I was so ill. I have started to eat Gluten free food but was tested through my Rheumy consultant for Celliac desease and it appears Im fine.

Now I put this down to taking mtx also the amount of other pills I was taking (daily - 6 paracetmol, 6 gabapentin, 4 tramadol) the mtx was 6 pills on Mondays and 1 folic acid on a Friday.

When the Doc did the house visit he suggested I stop the Mtx wrote to my Consultant and he agreed. Luckily I has a appointment with him and we discussed where to go from here - he suggested Sulfasalazine but I didn't want more pills going into my gut so I asked for Mtx injections. I'm going on Monday to Hospital to "learn" how to do the injections. So Ive been Mtx free but still had the pains in my stomach, diahorrea and sickness so does anyone know what may be causing this and where do I go from here. ? xx

[Jillyanne]

Hi, I had awful bad stomachs on mtx tablets, but touch wood, since the injections seem to be ok. Good luck

Only had two injections and hope it continues to be good 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[Martinilady in reply to Jillyanne]

I hope so too. just had a thought my bad stomach last nite/today could be that the mtx tablets are still working their way out of my system. The previous stomach pains etc were about 6 weeks ago. X

[angel-delight]

Hi, I had the same sickness and diarrhea, viently I'll, really glad to stop the mtx.

I am waiting to hear if I get approved for Tocilzumab, I have been approved for the infusion but have to wait to hear regarding costing. It is very expensive here in Canada. Fingers crossed I will get approved for costing too. I had 4 infusions whilst still living in the UK and the Rheumatologist is trying to keep me on the same infusion here. I have been lucky so far having a good GP & Rheumatologist so quickly and they have both been very good at getting all the tests done so they could apply for me to have the infusions.

You may be fine having MTX in injection form as a lot are and they are okay, if not you can always check with your Rheumatologist to see if infusions are available to you.

Good luck, I hope you get your pain under control and soon. Take care xx

[Martinilady]

Ah thank you so much for your reply it really does help when we can share our problems and everyone does help when people understsnd what we are going through. I hope things get sorted for you. X

[nomoreheels]

I've coped far better on MTX injections, it seems generally to be the case so I hope it is for you too. If your Rheumy agrees you've also room to increase the days you take folic acid if necessary, I'm on 17.5mg MTX & 5mg folic acid 6 days, just not the day I inject. It's also normal to reduce the dose from what you took in tablet form as less of the med is lost administering by injection. x

[Martinilady]

Ah thats interesting I will ask about that when I go. Thank you so much xx