Methotrexate for pain

[arvine]

have people on here been prescribed methotrexate for severe pain hands, wrists fingers all joints really hip( need replacement apparently) when diagnosed with osteoarthritis? And told no longer havebpmr, but still on 4 mgs pred and drs want me to continue tapering?

[cyberbarn]

It will partly depend on what the underlying condition the methotrexate was prescribed for. Traditionally it has been used in inflammatory arthritises where the inflammation is causing the pain, so that's things like rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. But newer research has showed that there is a problem in the inflammatory pathways in the body with osteoarthritis too, and that for some people methotrexate works for that. So it isn't a pain killer as such, it damps down the inflammation which causes the pain.

I don't like what the protocols in Canada are any more (I left the country 40 years ago) but in the UK we have a government body called NICE that states what medicines can be used and it doesn't say methotrexate can be used for osteoarthritis. It also states that it can only be prescribed by rheumatologists not general practitioners.

I hope that helps a bit?