Changing from mtx pills to injection

[phonix]

Hi, is it possible to change between mtx pills and injection and back? Like if I am at home I am going to use the injection and for holiday I change to pills. Reason why I ask is because the pills upset my stomach but I also often stay a long time abroad(injections are not really advantages in areas without fridge). Maybe someone has experience with that.

[helixhelix]

You probably need to ask whoever prescribes them for you as swapping prescriptions could be the complicated thing. When I was in the UK the tablets were prescribed by my GP (and I paid for the prescription) but injections came from the hospital (and were free).

[Boxerlady in reply to helixhelix]

Same here re prescribing although I paid at the hospital too. It will be in to see what your clinic says; my understanding is that the injections are more effective than the tablets in that more goes into your system (because tablets have to go through the liver) so it might affect the dosage. 🤔

[oldtimer]

You would need to

1. have the agreement of your prescriber to do this

2. ensure that the dosage was equivalent.

The difficulty is that we are not entirely sure how much of the tablets gives a certain level in the body because of the variations in absorption from the gut. It's easier to be sure that the amount in the injection goes in, but even then there are variations depending on the absorption from the injection site.

Once you are stable on methotrexate small variations don't matter much, but it sounds as if you are intending to do it for longer periods?

And at the moment it is hypothetical - I can't see us being able to travel abroad anytime soon.