Subject: Methrotrexate....advice

Hi all

Apologies this is quite lengthy but my mother is 79, 80 in november she has suffered with chronic rheumatoid arthris for nearly 40 years now god bless her. She has always kept herself going despite it affecting her bones/hands etc.

However, i know she is getting older but her rheumatologist consultant has put her on methrotrexate which she has been on for almost 8-10 months now. During this time she has had infection after infection on them and has been hospitialized 3 times and operated on due to her gettin an infection in an ulcer in her foot, the infection sadly reached her bones in her toes last year and she had to have an amputation. She has always been mobile and although slow she has eventually got there and always been independant it is killing me to see her this way and she has to have to use of a mobility scooter or a wheel chair to ge her from a to b now.

I have done some research on methrotrexate ( not sure if spelt correctly ) and this has alarmed me very much so that its could be the cause of all these bad infections she keeps getting and i am fearing for my mothers well being. She has tried to contact her specialis with no attempts and although i keep pushing her to come off the medication she hesitates worrying she wont be able totake the pain of an inflammation flare up from her arthritis. I live 20 mile away from her but speak on the phone daily and i go see her she comes stays with me etc. but unfortunatly i cant always get over to attend appointments with her to express my concerns to her consultant.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this medication or no someone who has who could maybe help me more. The info i have found on it am i right in saying this is 100% probable to be causing my mothers infections.

Any help is appreciated.

Much love

Sue

reply | back to forum

Subject: Re: Methrotrexate....advice

Hello Sue

I haven't posted on here for some time but occasionally pop on to read the posts. I've just read your post and felt I must answer, your poor mum suffering with this awful illness for so long and what a caring daughter you are.

From what I know Methotrexate(MTX) is the most used drug for RA, it's what they call the 'anchor' drug and other drugs are normally added to it. On saying that I wasn't prescribed it straight away but was put on Sulfasalazine (bet I've spelt that wrong) and MTX was added about two years later. I currently take 20mg by injection along with the sulf., painkillers etc.

RA is when your immune system attacks the body, MTX is given to treat RA because it dampens down the immune system. The flip side to that is that your body then cannot fight infections like it should, so if someone taking MTX gets any sort of infection MTX must be stopped until things get better.

If I was you I would give NRAS a ring and chat to them. Their helpline number is 0800 298 7650. You could also ask questions on their healthunlocked forum. It's free to join and there are lots of fellow sufferers on there that could give you some advice

http://nras.healthunlocked.com/

Has your mum got a specialist nurse? If she has why not phone her, you will probably have to get your mums permission for her to talk to you, but I am sure that something could be sorted. You could even organise an appointment to see the nurse with your mum, they normally are easier to get appoitments with than the consultant. I find that my specialist nurses are easier to talk to than the consultant. I never feel rushed with them.

I hope that you get something sorted soon. Give my love to your mum.

Paula x

reply | back to forum

Subject: Re: Methrotrexate....advice

Hi Sue

I am same as Paula R , on 20mg Mtx + Salazopryrin & will go on another immune supressant soon (unti TNF drug )but not had infection problems , main problem I had with Mtx is raised liver blood test , Folic acid sort out alot of problems with Mtx but not sure about infections so you should check with a rummy nurse

there is other drugs instead of Mtx which she can go on , check for Disease-modifying antirheumatic drug , Salazopryrin is one & pretty easy to take but no where near as good as Mtx for controlling RA

hope you get some help

reply | back to forum