boosters

[trace58]

Can I ask if your doctor said you could did you hold Methotrexate 1 or 2 weeks before or after vaccines ? what's the upto date advise ?

[MadBunny]

I think it might depend on your own situation and vary in different health authorities. I was advised to stop mine for 2 weeks before my 3rd primary which was a recommendation from the JCVI . However, my rheum team , in the letter I got, said to contact their helpline if your condition is active or flaring. I never received any such advice about the booster, but decided to stop it anyway.as I'm in remission .

Maybe check with your rheum team to make sure🤔

[Lolabridge]

The general advice I read earlier was do not miss a dose if your RA is not well controlled or you are likely to have a flare.

[Sheila_G]

I have just had my 4th vaccine. I take mxt on saturday evenings. I missed 1 saturday but as my jab was on a friday it was 13 days before. I am going to leave 2 weeks after making 15 days so 28 days altogether. As my disease is well controlled I am hoping it won't be too long but if you have active disease I wouldn't leave it that long. I think with the other three I missed one either side.

[pinkmagnolia]

I was advised to continue taking MTX as usual with my first vaccine which I did, and then carried on taking it with the next 3 and was fine. I take a mid/low level dose and am in remission. As advice appears to differ greatly it may be worth contacting your surgery or rhuemy nurse to see what they say?

[Honeybee61]

I carried on as normal with meds for all 5 vaccines, I was never told otherwise🤷‍♀️

[Nuttyshirlz]

I was advised to take mine as normal when I rang my rhemy department. But your circumstances are different to mine so my advice would give your rhemy helpline a call and see what they say.

[Clare-NRAS Partner NRAS]

Like Lolabridge says ....if your RA is well controlled you could miss one or two doses after your vaccine, but it is more important to keep your RA well controlled. MTX does stay in your system for sometime hence the advice that to give the vaccines the best possible chance of doing their thing it can help to miss a dose or two but the vaccines will still be effective with mtx but maybe not to the same level. There is no one size fits all answer as very much depends as well if you are taking mtx with anything else or if mtx is been taken as monotherapy and what level of dosage. Best to check with your own consultant or specialist nurse who know your particular circumstances if you can or if you feel confident that you haven't flared for a long time and your RA is not active then it shouldn't have any adverse affects to miss a dose after your vaccine. Hope this helps you to decide

[trace58 in reply to Clare-NRAS]

Thanks I hope I get the 5th the vaccine centre didnt even seem ti know about it when rang so just booked on line

[Kags1068]

Hi Trace

I had my 4th vaccine on April 1st. I happened to have an appt with my rheumy a few days before so I asked whether or not I should skip the MTX as I would be due to take it the same day. His view? Totally up to me - just decide depending on how I felt on the day, he had no strong feelings either way. As far as he was concerned, the MTX was already in my system anyway. I only take a small dose, as I'm on 4 other DMARDS too as my disease has never been well controlled/in remission. Ultimately I did skip it (simply because it was the same day), and I was fine. With the other 3 vaccines, I didn't skip the MTX as none fell on the same day. I was fine with that too.

As others have wisely said, the best bet is probably to double check with your department as everyone's treatments/doses/disease activity varies.

Good luck!😊

[GinnyE]

I missed a dose either side of vaccines, except my fifth when I had my 20 mg methotrexate on the Wednesday, my fifth vaccine on the following Tuesday and missed the next day, Wednesday, methotrexate . I'm not sure if I will miss today aswell. My Rheumatologist said advice was not to miss it however. I only take methotrexate and I haven't had s flare for over a year (hesitate to write that, the Gods may be watching).