How much MTX do you take ? | Arthritis Information

I am only on 10mg (and doing terribly) but am also on Azulfidine and Prednisone and Plaquinal.
I know this is a low dose but how high can I go?
Did you start high and decrease or did you start low and increase?
Which is better?
Do I stay on Azulfidine and increase MTX
Please don't ask me to get doctors advice - I have a wonderful doctor and we are slowly increaseing MTX weekly but not working.
Should I hit MTX in a big way.
It is so hard to know what works and what has stopped working....
Cathy - about to be needing anti depressants

I started out pn 7.5mg of MTX(something like that anyway) and I'm now taking 25mg. I'm also on plaquenil and azulfadine. I'm sure when your doctor sees that this amount is not working for you, he'll/she'll increase the MTX ubtil he sees some improvement. I'm not sure what the highest amount that they will go to, but from what my doctor said, they usually don't like going much over the 25mg mark.

Kelly

Yeah, I'm on 25MG also, as well as Humira.

Seems like I started at about 7.5 also...but it's been three years or more now so it's hard to remember. My doctor added Humira for me when 20mg were no longer working. At that point he said it would pretty much be useless to increase as he didn't feel like it was going to help much.

I've increased the MTX twice again since being on Humia...but for me everytime I've increased I've had good results for a while. Eventually those results lost their affects; but it did help for a while.

I don't think they will increase too quickly as your body needs time to adjust to it.

I went from 12.5 to 15 to 22.5 in 6 months. Was on the Azufidine and Plaquenil too. Work quite well for a long time but then it started to not work and I then had to consider going on a biologic...

Don't forget...we all hit a plateau and you may be there now,( I don't think so but you never know) so your Doctor may have to keep increasing your MTX till you get to 25mg. Sometimes the oral MTX does not work as well with some people as the injection type does. So ask your Doctor if he raises the MTX to 25 mg, if you are a candidate for the injectable kind...Might work better for you and from what I read, doesn't leave you with an upset stomach like the oral doses can.

It does take a little while for the meds to get into the system before they work properly. So give it another month and if you still are not getting the results you need ask for an increase.

Hope you get your meds. worked out soon and start feeling better.

Toni

I started in july with 7.5 now I am up to 20 and 3 wks ago he added 400 mg of plaquinel plus 15 mg of predisone. Now they are talking about giving me mtx injections.......................teresa

MTX can take up to 6 months for it to properly work. The injectables can be gentler on the stomach, yet it can still have some of the same side effects.

I started on 7.5mgs of the pills. Quickly rose to 17.5mgs...tried to do 20mgs...but was sick as a dog. Just recently moved over to the injectable form. Since being on MTX...my body is much better...even though she still has her days.

I am on Plaquenil and Mobic and Sulphaslazine also...all working together for the good of this body.

I started on 10 mg, and was on that for about a year. I was increased to 20 mg, but at the same time began developing horrible bruises all over my body. They took me back down to 10 mg. The bruising is MUCH better, but I am also completely off Prednisone.

I felt a little better when I was taking 20 mg of MTX so i think I am going to ask if I can go back to taht dosage.

I started out on 7.5 then went to 10 and now am on 5.

Susan

Just upped it to 25 mg and in 3 wks I am going on the injection form........................TERESAI'm on 15 mg per week and I take 200 mg of plaquenil per day. Seems to be doing the trick for the moment. *crosses fingers* I am on 8 2.5 mg tablets. That makes 20 mg I guess! I went off of it when I started enbrel, but now I am back on. Starting in a month or two I am going to try and wean a few pills off of that because I would like my thicker hair back and I also want to try and get off of it. I want to see if enbrel really is working! butterfly38682.831412037I have been on 10 mg of prednisone since the end of October (started as a 2-week trial) and started MTX just this Saturday. I was a little scared of him starting me at 20 mg, when my cousin said she started much lower, but my doctor said he wanted to get it into my system and keep damage from happening. He also told me people either get side effects (mostly stomach) or not, and that dose doesn't matter (I had asked him if I should ramp up the dose over time). I had a few stomach cramps Saturday afternoon but nothing else, so maybe I got lucky. I hope so anyway! In another month, I'm supposed to cut back to 5 mg of prednisone to see if the MTX is starting to work. I sure hope it does because I don't want to go back to how I felt before the prednisone...EVER! Did anyone else start out at 20 mg?

I started out a lot lower than that but now take 25mg a week. Your doctor could be right....if you're going to react badly to it it might not even matter what dose you start with. I've never had any trouble with it (Knock on wood) but I hear of so many. Even those that start out on a lower dose. You and I both might just be amoung the lucky ones.

Butterfly; I take Humira but I know without a doubt that it would not be nearly as effective without my MTX. I wish you luck tapering off but don't be too anxious to get off it entirely. Those I know that take biologics without MTX do not have as good of results as those that do.