Methotrexate

[Bigal45]

How good is methotrexate for pain relief

[Skymollie]

Hello Big al, I have been on methotrexate 10ml/week(self given shots) for four weeks. This is a very low dose, I think the lowest they go is 7.5 ml/week. Docs say 8-12 weeks before it's helping. I've only noticed that my 220 mg aleve(nsaid) does more for the pain than the metho. Doctor wanted me to take 1000 mg per day nsaid but I personally don't believe in overkill. My small dose nsaid makes me comfortable. Plus, I get to keep my microbiome/guts happier. Good luck. I supposedly had pmr in Dec, then 4 months later rheumy says it's ra,

[Gnarli]

Methotrexate is not a pain reliever as such. It treats the RD so that when it works the disease activity is reduced leading to a reduction of inflammation, swelling and pain. I'm four and a half years diagnosed and am now taking 20mg Methotrexate which has worked well for me. It's rare for me to get any really painful joints so there is little inflammation, swelling or pain. There are a lot of painkillers out there which can be prescribed by your GP

[cass24 in reply to Gnarli]

Sorry I didn't even see your post when I was writing mine. It looks as as if I copied you almost word for word but that's pure coincidence and at least it proves we agree

[Gnarli in reply to cass24]

No problem it's just great minds think alike, obviously

[Bigal45 in reply to Gnarli]

Thanks for your help 6 weeks in swelling down but no pain relief yet. Fingers crossed.

[Gnarli in reply to Bigal45]

Unfortunately, Mtx takes up to 13 weeks to work but you should start to see small improvements soon

[cass24 in reply to Bigal45]

It was not so long ago that I was at 6 weeks myself and also feeling a little disappointed that I wasn't getting more relief. It's so tempting to read the advice that it can take up to 6 weeks (or more) to have some effect and conveniently ignore the "or more" bit isn't it? Certainly for me, I'd mentally set 6 weeks as some kind of goal and it was hard not to feel frustrated when it just didn't happen...

But the weeks kept ticking by and by 9 weeks the reduction in pain was starting to be a lot more significantly noticeable. And now at 12 weeks, I'm still not completely pain-free (by any means) but feeling more certain than ever that I'm at least heading in the right direction.

I've read that for some people, it can take up to 4 (or even 6) months for MTX to have full effect (which we probably wouldn't want to hear when we're first starting out anyway!) but if you're already finding that the swelling is going down then hopefully it shouldn't take that long, and if after another few weeks you're still feeling that things are moving too slowly then maybe worth having a chat with your rheumy to see if you can increase your dose or add another drug into the mix to help things along.

Good luck and hope you're starting to feel more relief very soon.

[cass24]

Methotrexate isn't really considered as a pain killer as such. It works on reducing the disease activity and therefore in the longer term it can reduce pain significantly but it's certainly not a "quick fix" as it can take 8 - 12 weeks or more to start having any effect, and that's always assuming it works at all (though it certainly can/does for many people).

[helixhelix]

As others have said, MTX reduces pain by getting the disease under control. It took a long time, but worked great for me as i went from unable to sleep for pain to not needing so much as aspirin now.

[auldreekie2]

Hello Bigal45

I have been on methotrexate twice, first time 4 years ago when I first got RA never worked then, they took me off them, further down the line, I am on methotrexate injections now 25 mg been on them since Nov so far nothing changed, now they’ve added a new tablet along with my injections.

Now everyone is different and a lot of people get a good response from methotrexate.

So good luck.