When I switched from MTX in tablet form to injections it made a huge difference for me with the feeling ill part. The tired still lasts for a day and one half but I inject in the morning (Saturday).....do it in the evening and it might just be a day. Ginger can help the nausea but don't overdo ginger or you'll clog up the works (constipation). Drink LOTS of water for two full days with MTX. Don't consume caffine the day of or after the MTX. You're body will, slowly over time, adjust somewhat to the MTX. That's the best I've got.

Thank you for your feedback! I see my Dr. again in December and will mention the injections.

Absolutely the injections make the difference for me too!

For me, too.

If you don't want to wait until December, call your doctor and tell him/her of the problem and that you want to discuss going on injectable MTX during your next visit. .....but also ask now if it's ok to slip back to 7.5 mg MTX until December. That might help.

yep, felt awful at the beginning of my MTX therapy. Started off with 10 mg and had to increase because 10 mg was not sufficient (am not at 20 mg). Please give it another 3-4 weeks. Also, I have become a kind of an expert on this, I am sorry to say, as I have had to scan through medical journals. What you could do now to help a bit, and you don't need your doctor for this, is: instead of taking all the 10 mg at once, take half a pill in the morning and half in the evening during meal times. You probably don't have much appetite either. This is normal. Also, are you taking any medicine to protect your stomach? Something like pantoprazole? Have you been prescribed folic acid to accompany your MTX therapy?

Hi Joseph C- I was just diagnosed this month and started on methotrexate with Folic Acid. I'm on 7.5mg once a week. At this point, the side effects have been mild, just a little headache and and minimal GI. I'm dreading continuing though! However , when I look at the data, I get more scared of not taking it... It was caught real early, as I have no joint damage yet and no inflammation. However after reading all these stories, I'm terrified of whats to come! I'm impacted hardly at all right now, other than mentally having the diagnosis and some pain after some of my workouts etc.

Did I miss something? You were put on mthx 5 weeks ago, but you have a 2 week old baby girl? Are you nursing?

Mthx is a very dangerous drug, for infants. I'm hoping that you put those numbers wrong. Because, if you are just recovering from childbirth, and all the hormonal changes, then adding mthx, another drug which can affect hormones, that would explain why you are feeling so sick.

I think was about 6-8 weeks of being sick all the time, the first time with mthx, and that was oral. I had to go off 8 years ago, because my liver was not happy. A year ago, the first shot I took I was sick for a day. The next week, for about an hour!

So, even though I was told that wouldn't happen, my body definitely recognized the drug. It worked almost instantly, which never happens either.

Anyway, please reassure me your baby is a bit older? Because, thinking about it, who goes back to work with a 2 week old baby? Surely you got some maternity leave?

Ooops! Was it your wife who had the baby girl?

Marlene - I was wondering why noone was shocked about starting methotrexate five weeks ago and then having a baby two weeks ago while working full time- No wonder things are not going well. Sometimes we forget that guys get RA too.

I just want to give you a hug. Mama Mia. The methotrexate at work was one of my biggest complaints. I felt like it diminished my cognitive abilities at work and I complained about it a lot to the rheum. Yeah I took the injections - year I timed it to the weekend crap but I still had two kids at home and was a single Mom so timing it to the weekend was not a panacea. Sometimes they offer you a prednisone "bridge" until the dmard kicks in and sometimes the rheum might titrate the mtx dose up until they hit the one where you say you get the most benefits.

At least you are not the one breastfeeding so you can take the meds.... (trying to find a silver lining, sorry :)

Congratulations on the new baby. oh! I just looked up and re-read your post. Talk to your rheumatologist. I had that I am not going to take methotrexate anymore because of my full time job and the kids schedule talk with my rheumatologist once upon a time and my rheum talked back to me about biologic stand alone therapy and which biologics she thought worked OK alone and did not have to need a "synergistic" affect with mtx the dmard. It all comes down to what the two of you work out and what your REAL life situation is like at work and at home.

We can all pontificate to you but you know best. For myself there have been times when i was unable to do methotrexate therapy with the dmard and my rheumatologist agreed.

I know this is a silly question, but did work give you any leave for the newborn? No, right? I am always trying to figure out where paternity benefits (if any) are in this country. or is it FLMA? Well that can go out the window also, because sometimes the economics of it will not work.

Congratulations again :)

depot

Thank you for all the advice!