First day of Methotrexate

Just did my first shot today (.4ml/week). So far my vision seems slightly affected (not blurry but I'd say slightly foggy, not 100% clear). Other than that I feel the same as usual.

Using this as a maintenance med to try and keep me in remission. We'll see how this goes.

Hope it goes well for you!

Jenn,
I hope that all goes well for you. AND, I want to thank you for being so supportive in the forum, you always take the time to anwser veryones questions and help them out, inc. me. Thank you so much.

Jim (Pops)

Hope it works for you Jennifer! I just took my first methotrexate injection last night (although I've been on the oral since last August). I haven't had any side effects yet (knock on wood!).

I had a feeling of the flu for the first few times I took Methotrexate, and it was orally taken. Now I don't have any side-effects when taking the meds. I am taking Folic Acid as well after the Metho. Metho on Friday, Folic Acid on Mon-Thu.

sAiyAnstAr why are you taking the folic acid Mon-Thu as apposed to everyday? I was told to take it daily (1mg/day). Just curious.

@Jennifer, my Gastro told me to let the Methotrexate do it's thing over Fri-Sun and then take the Folic Acid to stop the Metho from working. I suppose he doesn't want me to have the same side-effects as when I was on Imuran.

Jim (POPS) said:

Jenn,
I hope that all goes well for you. AND, I want to thank you for being so supportive in the forum, you always take the time to anwser veryones questions and help them out, inc. me. Thank you so much.

Jim (Pops)

Click to expand...

here here. well said.
I hope it works out for you and keeps you outa trouble.
hugs
ju

Good luck! I could be wrong but .4 seems like a low dose. How far do you go on the syringe? I believe I went to 35 but I could be wrong. Are you doing the injections yourself? Let me know if you have any questions, I've been around the block with Methotrexate lol

Ya I'm doing the injections myself. Next one is tomorrow.

I'm using the tiny diabetic type needles and pull down just one tick above the 5 (.4). I'm guessing I was started on a low dose just to see if that little bit will be enough for me. Its a common starting dose for RA I've read (my Rheumatologist is the one treating my arthritis and Crohn's at the moment, my GI has been going along with it) but I don't know what dose is common for Crohn's (for maintenance during remission).

My husband said I'm getting 10mg/dose. I suck at math. He keeps trying to explain it to me. He's still talking.

Jennifer said:

My husband said I'm getting 10mg/dose. I suck at math. He keeps trying to explain it to me. He's still talking.

Click to expand...

:rof::rof:
good one....he's still talking. I know that feeling.
ju

I'm not sure but I'm thinking I might be noticing a side effect already.

I woke up with a sore throat today. Thought maybe I might be sick but that's not really how it felt (no other symptoms). What it feels like is a sore throat you get after vomiting multiple times in a day.

In the past I have had some acid reflux issues where I woke up in the night swallowing vomit/stomach acid. That was pretty rare and hasn't happened in many months to a year.

Yesterday I felt like my stomach contents were going upwards so I took some Tums to see if that would help (that's all I had at home and I really don't think it helps much and not for long at all). So this morning I had a sore throat feeling like I must have threw up a lot but I don't recall doing so and didn't have a nasty taste in my mouth. I took a drink of something this morning and instantly it kept trying to come up. I kept burping and a little liquid would drain at a time until finally some stomach acid came up in my mouth. Hurt my throat as expected. Took some more Tums in a vain attempt to make it not happen again.

It hasn't happened again since this morning but my throat still hurts (hurts more when I swallow liquid, food hurts less than liquid which I find odd).

I've been trying to find information on Methotrexate causing acid reflux or possibly making it worse yet haven't had any luck. Looking at the side effects it mentions vomiting so I'm wondering if I'm vomiting a little with no nausea instead of having acid reflux (if that makes sense ).

I'll definitely keep an eye on it and will try to make an appointment with one of my doctors to see if I can take something for it while on Methotrexate (gotta love having to wait till Monday to get anything done). After writing this I've started burping more and feel like stomach contents are coming back up a bit just like last night. D:

Did you ever deal with this KWalker? Or anyone else still reading?

No, I've never had that problem. When you swallow do you get a funny, medicine-like taste? Are you actually getting sick or just have the feeling in your throat that you have? My main symptoms were headaches at first (fixed with tylenol (not serious)) and I seemed to get tired pretty easily. At the time, I was working from 5am-3pm which is early but nothing crazy, and I would come home and literally be in bed by 7. That is uncommon for me because I'm usually one of those people that can function on small amounts of sleep and at the time it seemed like all I did was work and sleep.

Still, I didn't consider my symptoms anything to panic about because they were more of an inconvenience than a health risk and I occasionally got night sweats (less than 10 in the few years I was on it). Again, nothing serious but more of an inconvenience. Night sweats seem to be a common side effect of MTX and no matter how I went to bed (AC, no blankets, etc) I would still have the night sweats once and awhile.

I haven't noticed a strange taste when I swallow every time (unless something actually comes back up which isn't often). My mouth was bitter and sour tasting this morning (familiar taste of stomach acid). Throat isn't as sore today though. I know its not me getting sick though. I've been sick many times (used to get constant throat infections before I finally had my tonsils removed) and have thrown up a lot over the years for various reasons (either Crohn's related from a blockage I had, my infection after surgery and binge drinking back in the day) and this definitely feels like I had been vomiting.

I have noticed other symptoms like earaches (but don't last long and aren't severe) and feeling like there's a lump in my throat. All these symptoms are pointing to acid reflux/GERD.

Waiting for a call back from my GI. Will probably take a couple days since its not urgent. For now I've decided to not eat anything 3 hours before bed, avoid soda and other common food triggers to see if that will help temporarily until I get word on what to do.

I just had a small bowel series/barium swallow done a couple weeks ago so if there is damage from before starting new meds they may see it (last endoscopy was done mid November 2012 and they only found minor damage). Only recent change in meds has been getting off of Remicade, starting Methotrexate, taking 1mg of folic acid/day and started taking probiotics again around the same time.

Hello,

When I first started methotrexate I had really bad indigestion in time this went away and now I don't suffer at all. I told my GI at the time and they gave me some medication to control it I can't remember what it was called but the tablets were huge. Don't know if it could be something like this and because you all ready have GERD is affecting you a bit more. Anyway I hope you hear back from them soon to get it sorted x

I've actually never been diagnosed with GERD. Just seem to have symptoms of it that I've noticed. Yesterday and today the acid reflux seems to have stopped. Today is injection day so let's see if it returns.

I just read that you said you're taking 10mg. That's a really low dose. At first I was taking 40mg and then eventually was able to reduce to 25mg. Although I didn't have the same symptoms you list, I did notice that my headaches went away as the medicine "wore off" but then came back after I took the weekly shot. Hopefully this doesn't happen for you as well but if it's anything like mine, it did eventually go away.

I'm referring to the acid reflux not headaches by the way. Not sure how to explain it properly, but if your reflux is anything like my headaches it will hopefully go away eventually after your body becomes used to the medicine.

Jennifer said:

II have noticed other symptoms like earaches (but don't last long and aren't severe) and feeling like there's a lump in my throat. All these symptoms are pointing to acid reflux/GERD.
.

Click to expand...

Sorry I can't help you with your issues but just read your post. I didn't know ear aches are a side effect of Mtx. Will go obsessively google now My daughter woke up three nights in a row with severe ear pain and in the a.m. nothing. Now is complaining of clogged up hearing. She is also a swimmer so initially we put it down to possible swimmers ear. She also has psoriasis on her ears and we thought maybe the plaques are appearing in the canal too. Was going to bring her to ped thsi week but now I am wondering.

Crohnsinct, I meant that ear pain may be a side effect of acid reflux not the Methotrexate. Yet my GP said that since Methotrexate can cause "stomach upset" then that may be what's kick starting the acid reflux for me. He told me to try Omeprazole over the counter and see if it helps at all. I've been taking it for 2 days now and thus far and have been feeling better. Still too soon to tell but I haven't had the burning acid reflux pain or ear pain since I started taking it (still have a dry cough which started a week ago and did have a sore throat yesterday and this morning but its unknown if those are acid reflux symptoms or from the Methotrexate as those are both listed as a side effect of Mtx). I'll update if there are any changes.