Is it safe to get three vaccinations before starting on methotrexate ?

[FAISAL2020]

Hi all, this is my first time ever to ask a question on this platform. I have been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis back in November 2020. Prior to this , I have had 8 years very limited psoriasis mainly in my ears , elbows and groin area. Last year November I woke up with swollen knee with no trauma. I have attended the A&E as taking anti inflammatory medications were not easing the pain so the knee got aspirated in A&E. after that, I had 5 continues swelling in the left knee and one time in the right knee. Draining my knees was non stopping so they have decided to stop aspirations as fluids was always coming back m. Recently I was giving steroid injection ( depo-me-drone). After getting the steroid injection most of my morning stiffness and swelling were reduced. I know that steroid is not the long term treatment and just temporarily, but my swellings and stiffness were reduced by 90% and I felt like a normal human being again. My rheumatologist wants me to start methotrexate soon but she wants me to get three different vaccinations ( covid vaccin , pneumococcal vaccin and flue jab ) all of this before starting the treatments (methotrexate). I was wondering if it is safe to get all this vaccinations at once before starting the treatments..! Any advice ? Many thanks.

[helixhelix]

I had the pneumococcal and flu vaccine together, but you have to wait three weeks after flu vaccine before getting covid vaccine.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to helixhelix]

Thank you helixhelix for the advise !!

[bpeal1 in reply to helixhelix]

I was only asked if I had had any vaccinations in the previous 7 days before my covid vaccine.

[helixhelix in reply to bpeal1]

I was asked re 3 weeks!

[bpeal1 in reply to helixhelix]

I’ve just read the patient advice leaflets for both the Phizer & Oxford/ Atrazeneca ones (the ones currently being used in the UK). The phizer one says not to have it if you’ve recently had another vaccine but no exact time scale given. The Oxford/Artrazeneca one simply says to tell the doctor if you’ve recently had any other vaccines.

I think Faisal 2020 will need to take advice from his/her GP.

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[helixhelix in reply to bpeal1]

A nuisance isn’t it that no consistent guidance! Surely it would save time for busy health professionals if all these things were made clear.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to helixhelix]

Dear helixhelix , I totally agree with you! My rheumatologist has send an email to the GP to request those vaccins for me. It is been almost a week now but I haven’t got a reply back yet from GP. I will ring GP now to find out what the story is. Many thanks for advise 🙏 ☺️

[FAISAL2020 in reply to bpeal1]

Dear bpeal, thank you for the advise and I will ring my GP today to find out about this confusion. my rheumatologist put the treatments on halt until getting those vaccines. Have a lovely day... 😊

[bubblyalex in reply to helixhelix]

Same here

[bubblyalex in reply to helixhelix]

I had the flu and pneumonia one at the same time too.

[Paula-C]

My consultant told me to have another pneumonia vaccination during a telephone consultation with him end of last year, apparently I should have it done every five years. When I replied about ringing my GP to arrange it he told me to wait till I'd had the covid vaccinations.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to Paula-C]

Thank you Paula for the advise...!

[medway-lady]

No idea about Covid as its still new but I did flu, pneumonia, yellow fever etc. and a few others as travel on holiday. It was fine. I did the live ones for going to Africa and can't remember them now. I'm a strong believer in prevention and it seemed sensible.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to medway-lady]

Thank you Medway for the advise...

[MJSlide1958 in reply to medway-lady]

Please may I ask whether you had these vaccines whilst taking the meds or stayed off meds for a time period?

[FAISAL2020 in reply to MJSlide1958]

Hi MJSlide1958 , I stopped taking the medications. I got the COVID-19 vaccinations yesterday. Next week I will get the flue jab and week after pneumococcal vaccin I will have a party of vaccinations and I have continuous flare up. 🙃

[MJSlide1958 in reply to FAISAL2020]

Hope it all goes well for you. Good luck

[MJSlide1958 in reply to FAISAL2020]

Have you had any flares since stopping meds?

[medway-lady in reply to MJSlide1958]

I was allowed to put off for a couple of weeks as we'd booked a holiday and began the LEF- a couple of weeks later. Still have the flu every year no problem.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to medway-lady]

Thank you for your msg and advice. 😊

[MJSlide1958 in reply to medway-lady]

Hi, did you experience any flares when stopping meds?

[FAISAL2020 in reply to MJSlide1958]

I was on the treatment for two weeks when I got covid, but I am in continues flare up since I got diagnosed last year November. I will start the treatments again from next week and hopefully this will bring down the flare up. Finger cross 🤞🏻

[MJSlide1958 in reply to FAISAL2020]

Good luck and get well soon.

[medway-lady in reply to MJSlide1958]

No it was fine.

[MJSlide1958 in reply to medway-lady]

Good news

[Fra22-57]

You should normally have the annual flu vaccine if medically vulnerable plus the pneumonia one.My go said pneumonia is a one only for life.You will only get the vaccine when rang for it so I would quickly get the other two

[FAISAL2020 in reply to Fra22-57]

Dear Fra22, many thanks for this info. I will call GP and find out about it. Have a lovely day 😊

[Leics]

I was asked at the vaccination hub whether I had received the flu jab within the last 7 days so according to them it’s fine as long as it’s not within the same week. Don’t know a bout pneumonia jab. Hope the GP manages to sort it for you in a timely manor so your treatment can begin soon. I had a depo steroid injection in December so that wasn’t an issue either but advice is sketchy and dependant on where you live it seems.

[FAISAL2020 in reply to Leics]

My dear , thank you for your msg. In the meantime I have contacted the GP and they will call me to get the pneumococcal and flue jab vaccins first and put me on the list as extremely vulnerable individual to get the covid vaccin. Have a lovely day 😊

[Leics in reply to FAISAL2020]

Thanks you too. It sounds as though your GP has stepped up to the mark and you’ll get all necessary vaccinations within a few weeks so that’s a good result 👍.

[Hidden]

You can get the flu and pneumonia vaccinations done together, a shot of each. It seems you have to leave 7 days between them and the covid jab. At any rate, when I went for the covid vaccination I was asked if I'd had any others in the previous 7 days.

Your consultant is following standard practice in wanting you to have the vaccinations before you start MTX. I think it's to give the vaccines the best chance of building up immunity for you. I'm pausing MTX at the moment to let the covid vaccine work.

[Garnacha]

Just to let you know I started methotrexate in November last year on a Friday and the dr's rang me the following Wednesday to go up there and have the flu jab, they just said that I'm extremely vulnerable and need it asap, I didn't ask and nothing was said about waiting any time before or after starting the MTX but I was fine either way, sorry I can't help with the pneumococcal one but seems as if your dr is on the case x

[FAISAL2020 in reply to Garnacha]

Thank you Garnacha , for the info and my rheumatologist is definitely on the case , she rang me today and asked if the GP has invited me for the vaccins. she wants me to start the methotrexate ASAP as I have an active inflammation in all my body.