For those that have been take MTX for longer than 2 years:
I am curious about the rate of increase of your MTX over the years. Will you contribute your stats? Mine are as follow:
Started at 7.5 mg
Currently at 15 mg
Total years 11
Lee
Started: Can't really remember but I think it was about 7.5 mg
Currently at:25 mg
Total years:14
Kelly
Started at 7.5
Gradually up to 25 within three months
Total years 1 ½
Since around 1995:
Started 7.5 mgs
As of 8/05 up to 20mgs
I think I started at 7.5mg too. It's been about 4 years now so it's hard to remember exactly.
When I hit 20mg we added Humira.
I'm currently taking 25mg. Would like to increase again....but not sure if they'll let me.
Is anyone taking more than 25mg? I'm thrilled to here that some of you have been on it as long as oyu have. That gives me hope that I'll be able to continue like that as well. It's really been a life saver for me.
Hey there,
I am on 20 mg of Mtx...just cranked up last week after being on 15 mg since Sept...12.5 from June till Sept. I was on 10 for about 3 years..then went off a couple of years b/c liver enzymes went up a little. back on it now..but having a lot of finger tenderness and PAIN this week. swollen fingers...i hate this.
Molly Bee
Lovie,
I think I may have read about 30mg MTX - but that's not common. There was a study in 2004 at Johns Hopkins; it was found that high doses [45mg IM] really showed no significant improvement. Sorry.
Despite the lack of toxicity demonstrated with rapid escalation of IM methotrexate, neither changing oral to IM methotrexate and/or escalating IM methotrexate dosing to 45mg/week were associated with significant clinical improvements.
http://www.hopkins-arthritis.som.jhmi.edu/news-archive/2004/ im_methotrexate.html
Lee
I've been on methotrexate for 7 years.Yeah; I know my doctor probable will feel the same way. After I got up to 20mg he said he wouldn't go any further with it.....it wouldn't make that much difference. That's when we added Humira; but I have since gotten him to prescribe 25mg a week and it helped a good bit at the time.
I'm holding my own at this dose....I wouldn't say it's not working; but I've got those "tell, tell" signs that it's beginning to weaken.
One day at a time, right? I'm trying not to get to far ahead of myself...but it's hard sometimes.
Lovie,
I ask myself what I will do if the MTX decides to quit working on me and I can't increase the dose. I can't take any of the anti-TNF's, so that's out. I just keep hoping something happens fast with the new DNAJP1 in clinical trials
Meanwhile, stress management and positive outlook are the best rules for me.
I actually think I'm in pretty good shape all things considered.....I don't need to be buying trouble with "what if's".... but I've been around the block too many times not to remember what direction I'm going.
Started taking 7.5mg in April 2000, but now on 17.5 mg (have been gradually increasing over the past year). Annie
just started MTX
7.5mg
2 months
Started out with 7.5 mg in August 2004 and went down to 5 mg in Sept. 2005 but supplemented it with 1,000 mg of sulphasalazine.
Susan
I don't get here very often,(so long in factthat I forgot my user name and password) but I wanted to reply here. I am on 30mg/wk of MTX. I am waiting for my insurance to approve a TNF. Once we get that I am sure we will back of on the MTX. My Rheumy said we could back off once we saw a certain level of improvement, but I never made it there. I have had RA for 5 years, diagnosed for 3. I started at 15mg/wk once we knew Plaquenil was not working. I know these are slow acting drugs, but it's hard to wait for improvement. As to what we will do when the MTX doesn't work anymore... I read there is a new drug in development specifically for RA. It is made from the marijuana plant, and not only does it help with the inflammation and pain in the trials, it actally slows the progress of the disease! I hope this is a real thing!
Actually there are several things in the works. I believe England recently published glowing studies using oral cannibis [a fraction of the dose of a joint]. Too, a totally different kind of drug is in clinical trials AT-001, or dnajp1. So I feel like great things are coming soon.