Methotrexate Reviews

Developed severe UC in my entire colon in 2012. Tried several drugs for 2 years which didn't work (except Prednisone which my doctor said I couldn't stay on long term) and finally got total remission with Methotrexate. I did have some hair thinning, including eyelashes which were almost completely gone but by using Rodan & Fields Lash Boost or the prescription lash drug Latisse I'm able to have nice lashes again. I take 8 pills (20 mg total) once a week and have been in remission except for the rare minor flare for 5 years now. Check my CBC and Liver Panel every 2-3 mos. and have not had any liver trouble, but occasionally have some anemia which is fixed easily enough by taking iron tabs.

It did not help manage my symptoms at all.

Switched from 6mp due to liver reaction, and seems to be working better. Along w Humira, seems to be my cocktail. Not fond of how many pills it is but I only take it once a week.

I'm in my early 50s and was diagnosed with UX 15 years ago. Azothiaprine made me nauseous, 6MP was great for a few years but then i stopped responding to it after my 2nd child's birth 10 years ago. At some point, I also tried managing it through diet, but that didn't work.

Then I tried MTX in a trial. Weekly injections the first 6 weeks, followed by weekly tablets (1.5mg/wk). Success! It's kept everything under control, with no side effects whatsoever. I also take Mezavant (5-ASA). I live a normal life - have 1/day solid BM, eat/drink almost anything I like (I am a huge foodie), and hit the gym, do yoga, travel and work. I don't even think about my UC. I did try going off the MTX twice (once cold turkey and 2nd time staged the decrease), but I flared 6 weeks after being completely off it. I used prednisone to control those 2 flares but hate its side effects. I know MTX is not for everyone, and it may not be great for long term usage (I have two friends on it for c20 years treating Rheumatoid Arthritis), but I'd rather be able to live my life to the fullest now. I intend to stay on it as long as it works for me and my consultant says it's OK.

I used methotrexate with Remicade for approximately four months. I completely crashed without prednisone, and now have had a complete collect to me. I've used most of the medications listed on the Adam site none of it worked without prednisone.

Methotrexate cause much hair loss, but it is hard to know if it caused any other side effects due to multiple medications.

I have just recently stopped taking MTX after 6 years. Took it for my UC after a severe reaction to azathioprine (or whatever the spelling is!). As long as I took the folic acid I was also prescribed I had no issues and despite being at the point I was told I needed surgery have been in remission since taking. I hope the remission lasts now I've stopped it but would start again with no concerns if I get a significant flare up. If I missed even 1 dose of the folic acid though I felt awful and experienced many of the side effects mentioned by others. Interested to know if any of those who had issues were also given the folic acid

I was placed on 10mg of methotrexate per week simply to combine with the Remicade to help prevent the body from forming antibodies against the remicade. After 5-6 weeks I was realizing no response to the remicade infusions, BUT I was noticing some relief about 24-48 hours after each methotrexate dose.

Side effects were pretty brutal however. VERY tired, bad headaches, and then skin rashes on my ankles/feet.

It's now been 8 weeks since I started remicade and methotrexate and I no longer see relief from the methotrexate doses. In fact I just sent an email to my doc to let me off the methotrexate since the side effects are so crappy. At this point, since the remicade doesn't seem to be working anyway, I don't see the point to taking the methotrexate as means to preventing the anti-bodies...

I had my first colonoscopy yesterday since I was first diagnosed (7 months ago) and my UC is worse than ever!

Hi, I've been using methotrexate (injections) for at least 4 years now. For the first 6 months it put me into remission with my UC but then I flared and had to go onto Revellex (Infliximab/Remicade). My doctor has not allowed me to discontinue the use of Mtx as he says it prevents my body from becoming immune to the Revellex (Remicade) infusion. So, hope of going off Mtx was shortlived! I can't say I hate mtx as it is helping me stay in remission but I will say I hate the side effects I endure once a week. I inject in the evening and for that evening and the next day I feel a general malaise... bad mood, headachy sometimes, anxious, slight nausea, a bit fluey, foggy brain and just generally out of sorts. Drinking lots of water on the day I inject helps a lot and exercising too. I've discovered this is the way to get through it with the least discomfort although I am never discomfort free on the day I take it. You are supposed to take it on the same day every week but this is not always possible for me, so sometimes I take it after 5 days instead of 7 or after 9 days instead of 7. Once I took it after 4 days and I feel pretty lousy... but I believe the drug has to fit in with my life; not the other way around. I am already sacrificing one and half days of my life every week feeling like cr-p because of it and my life needs to function as close to normally as possible, so I cannot always stick to the once every 7 day rule. I wait for the day when I will not have to be on mtx anymore. xx

I tried methotrexate with prednisolone (UK name). I found that it made me feel a bit dizzy and sick to start and then gave me diahorea, which to my mind defeated the object of it. I don't see it as a solution. The only thing that has worked for me, now (totally medication free) is a huge amount of energy work and talking and identifying the causes of my disease. My cause was from not being happy, stressed with losing my father, stressed from coming back from 1 years travelling and having nothing when I got back. I didn't want to start with any job so ended up spending a long long time not doing enough and wasn't achieving anything and then my father died of cancer. It shook my world and it took me three years to recover fully from my hospitalisation. Stubbornness with me unwilling to change my diet didn't help. But I've got a lot better. I now only have a problem if I drink alcohol or have too much sugar. So I've given up red meat, hardly drink alcohol, don't have caffeine, try not to eat biscuits wheat combined with sugar fatal for me! But I don't live like a monk. I no longer wake up in the night several times, or be unable to go anywhere without wearing a nappy. I don't go to the loo on the common more than my dog any more!! And I gave up all my medications against my doctors advice nearly a year ago. Had two or three lack of control situations since, rather than two or three a day! For me though, finding alternative and complementary therapists healed me. I cried and laughed on my birthday this year. To live a normal life never ever gets boring now. I am so lucky. Hope you get there too x

I hope this makes you laugh. In 2010 I was teaching second chance learners at a Polytech in Rotorua. Every Wednesday I would drive back to my family in Tauranga over the winding Pyes Pa hills. It was Winter and this could be a treacherous piece of road with black ice to take you by surprise. I was so cautious about it that luckily I was never in any trouble. (I'm telling you this so you can imagine the state my nerves were in). I would arrive home and say to the kids, "Ok, I'm going to inject myself. Don't bug me for a few minutes. Then I would go into my room. Clear a space on my dressing table. Sterilise it with alcohol swabs. Then lay out all the equipment. The drug, the needle, the receptacle for the 'dirty' needle. I would do the prep (which I can't remember at this point, so traumatic that I have blocked it from my memory), join the needle and the drug ampule together, back up to my bed, lean on it. Take a deep breath. Pinch with forefinger and thumb some fat 2 inches either side of my tummy button, (blast, which side was it last time?) (you have to alternate, left side, right side) where's the fat? find some fat!!!! Hold your breath, and jab. There. That wasn't so bad. Boy, once a week, at the same time is really hard to remember, especially when you have been on Prednisone for 3 years.

Suffice to say, I was at my worst on Methotrixate. Major accident by the photocopier. Cleared the building. Burned the knickers.