New year

[DebbieLovex]

hey so I'm on methetrexate as part of my combination treatment, and since new years coming up i'm wanting to have a couple of drinks for it, can anyone tell me if its safe to take a week of the methetrexate as i wont see my rheumatoid nurse until after new year

[Hidden]

debbie, i think the metx will still be in your system for a while if you stop it, not sure if that will make taking alcohol ok.

[Hidden]

Yes I'm afraid Mads is right. I really want a drink or two on my 50th birthday and I think if I stick to wine or bubbly that will be fine but spirits seem to send my liver soaring. It depends how much you want to drink. A few units shouldn't hurt but if you want to get pissed that may.

[Josie2]

My rheumy told me while i was on both mtx then leflunomide i was ok as long as i kept within the weekly units.

Suppose everyone is different and my bloods have always been ok.

Dont take it as gospel tho as everyone is different.

Xxx

[allanah]

Hi Debbie

This seems different in every paper you read. The American rheumatology say one to two glasses of wine per month, Canada say one or two per week, however a lot of rheumatologist a wont allow any alcohol at all when on to mix. This is due to the fact that alcohol plus alcohol can bring on severe liver toxicity, thus the blood monitoring when u r on the treatment.

The other thing is its difficult to guess if it will affect you as size, age, weight, are u drinking beer or spirits all come into play. For me whilst you are just settling on the treatment I would ask at the hospital for advice. A lot of Rheumies would change you from mtx though if a patient wanted a regular alcohol intake. So it's a bit of a guessing game whether it would affect you but my Rheumy said a couple of small wines RARELY might be ok!

I know this probably not that helpful as I too was mixed up by all the conflicting evidence so initially I just had Schloer and non alcohol wines and beer, the supermarkets have loads and I liked Kopperberg no alcohol. Also there r a lot of papers that show if u have a drink your joints can be more painful.

Despite this have a great new year lol Axxxxxxx

[DebbieLovex]

thanks everyone, av been on the methetrexate for 6 months now and i do remember both the consultant and the rheumy nurse briefly mentioning to me something about taking a week of the mtx but cant remember exactly what they said xxxx

[earthwitch]

It really depends on the state of your liver. If your liver function is good, then a small amount of alcohol occasionally may not make any difference, though it could be enough to tip the balance. It definitely wouldn't be wise to have any kind of heavy drinking session, and just going off MTX for a week wouldn't make that any less risky. If you think that it can take a normally functioning liver 1 hour to process 1 unit (which might only be half a glass!) that gives you some idea about how bad most folks alcohol intake is, and why so many folk now are ending up with chronic liver disease very young. If your liver is having to work harder because its dealing with MTX or other drugs, then I'd probably only want to be drinking maybe a quarter of what normal livers could handle easily, i.e. one unit in an evening, or maybe two at the most if it was a long evening, with food involved. Thats not a lot of alcohol, so you would need to find non-alcoholic alternatives to drink in between.

[helixhelix]

If your MTX day is on new year's eve then I think it would be a really bad idea to drink too much that evening. If it's not MTX night then most of the advice around seems to allow one or two drinks as a special occasion. However, I have had to take a week off MTX a couple of times, when I've had infections and stuff, and and that's been ok and I haven't immediately gone into a flare. but of course we're all different so could you not call your rheumy nurse to check? But it must take a while to completely leave your body, as you have to stop months before if you want to get pregnant, so I think you still shouldn't go overboard on alcohol.

happy new year....

[DebbieLovex]

no my MTX day is on the sunday and new years eve falls on the monday so i dont think id be able to call the rheumy nurse cos i don't think they'll be in during the weekend :/ I might just ask some friends who are also on the MTX if they've found it alright becos im sure some of them have mentioned taking a week of before, thank anyway though have a happy new year 2

[farjer121]

Hello hope christmas was not too stressfull.

All the literature i have seen says NOT to drink alcohol because of the possibility of (cant remember which) liver/kidney damage.

Generically, the drug takes about 10-12 weeks to take effect so would imagine it takes the same amount of time to clear yr system, but everyones different.

Having been on MTX since about 2004 i usually follow the medical advice except on my birthday and this time of year, But limit myself to a mere mouthful and maybe a small glass of port to finish. But this is my personal choice.

Take care and Happy New Year!

[Hidden]

less is more xx have a good one xx