Nausea and bruising due to medication.

[CagneysMum]

After almost 2 years on methotrexate which changed to injections about 7 months ago (plus hydroxychloroquine) my RA has been quite well controlled apart from some intermittent flares. Originally (21months ago) I started to lose a lot of hair but was advised to try a supplement I could purchase from health food shops called Biotin - worked perfectly to stop the hair loss which is slowly growing back. About 6 weeks ago I noticed I was feeling very nauseous which has increased in intensity and not pleasant at all. This week my consultant told me it’s due to the methotrexate and whilst there are pills he can prescribe he would rather not give me another pill to take . He says I am suffering from CTZ which you can read about on Wikipedia. So instead of more pills he suggested I have my methotrexate injections (20mg) every other week- effectively halving the dose. Has anyone else had this problem?

I also explained that I was bruising really easily- my husband caught my arm to stop me from falling last week When I tripped and I’m now wearing his finger prints ! He didn’t grab hard either bless him. My consultant says this is due to the steroids- I recently had steroid injections in both ankles. Do you think this should improve if I don’t have anymore steroid injections? Has anyone else had this? My legs are a mess with bruises and it would be nice to think this might improve.

[oldtimer]

I'm stuck with steroids and easy bruising and just have to accept that the two go together.

I also have nausea from medication - I do find that drinking lots and eating things with ginger in them helps. But for me the benefits of the medication outweigh the side effects.

[CagneysMum in reply to oldtimer]

Thanks 👍

[KittyJ]

I took steroids for 25+ years and always bruised really easily. I was always covered in them, sometimes huge. I’ve now managed to come off them and no longer have this problem. It’s quite remarkable the difference.

Methotrexate made me really sick at higher doses even on injections so I now take a low dose and folic acid and It’s ok. I was never told to try taking it every other week though. I hope it helps you to do that as it’s no fun feeling sick all the time.

[CagneysMum in reply to KittyJ]

I came off methotrexate for 5 weeks recently so that i could have a yellow fever vaccination to travel across Brazil. I was fine for the first two weeks but then had a flare up that needed steroids to get under control again. Because I was fine for two weeks without it, the consultant thinks I should be ok just injecting every other week. Also I didn’t want to waste the 7 pre loaded 20mg metho pens I had already. NHS has enough problems with wasted prescriptions as it is. So we’ll see how I get on. If it isn’t successful I’ll go back to him and we’ll try something else.

[KittyJ in reply to CagneysMum]

Definitely worth a try. If you get the same results with less mtx then that’s good. 🤞🏻

[Asheen]

Hellooo... Firstly Merry Christmas & lets hope a relatively pain free 2020.

I am on 25mg weekly methx injections & yes my hair was thinning so was told to take 2 folic acid tablets either side my injection day. I was on hydroxychloroquine because I was having eye problems so they took me off them.

As far as your other problems I personally haven’t experienced any of them.

[CagneysMum in reply to Asheen]

I was taking folic acid 6 days a week but it didn’t stop the hair loss, only Biotin worked for me.