How do you take your MTX | Arthritis Information

Since my doctor up my MTX from 7.5 mg to 15 mg, I now take 6 pills a week. I was taking 3 every Friday, but I have heard that sometimes it is better to split them up. 3 on Friday 3 on Saturday as an example. How do you take your MTX.

Phil

Hi Phil

You can split the dose into two, as long as you take the total dose (6 pills) within 24 hours. E.g. take 3 pills Friday night and 3 pills Sat. morning.

Splitting doses can help reduce side-effects and there is some evidence that the drug might work slightly more effectively too.

P.S: Here's a good link

http://www.orthop.washington.edu/uw/medications/tabID__3376/ ItemID__77/PageID__61/Articles/Default.aspx

My doc has me take my MX ( 15mg ) 4 times a week,he says I have to take it the same days at the same time every week example I take it every Tues,Thurs,Sat & Sun at 3:00 pm,he said I HAVE to take it at the same times every week

That's really unusual - all the rheumatology websites say it should be taken once per week. How do you split 6 pills into 4 doses?

I'm only on 7.5 mg per week (Friday nights) and my rheumatologist said I could take 1 pill every 12 hours (Friday night, Sat morning and Sat night) if I had nausea problems. But he stressed the 'take it all within 24 hours' thing, else it can raise the risk of drug toxicity.

Wendy38938.0632060185He said with the Enbrel I needed to space my doses out,I take my Enbrel injections every Thurs. night,I go bact to see him Mon. and I'm going to ask him about that,thanks Wendy

Good luck with your appointment on Monday.

Hi,

I take my MTX injectable. .08 ml once a week. I take that the day after my Enbrel. But I just saw a new RD and I expect him to change a few things..He wasn't happy with how my last RD was handling my RA.
Feel well all..Huggs

Deb

I've recently switched from 25mg a week to 20mg a week and I don't like it. If I don't feel any better by Saturday I'm bumping back up to 25mg. Course I was off my meds for a while there so that has affected things to an extent.

I've always taken mine all at once. Then again I don't have the horrible side effects that many have. I'd try them all at once....if you don't have any problems I think it's best to get it over with all in one day.

Grbr~You take 15mg 4 times a week? 60mg a week? Surely I'm misunderstanding your explanation. Do you mean you split your 15mg into 4 doses? Either way it's unusal. But then again.....we hear all kinds of stuff here. The only thing we definately agree on here is that every doctor has their own ideas of how to treat this stuff.

Lovie,that's my mistake, I take it 4 times a week at 2.5 mg a dose,so many meds I some times can't keep up with it,I do the injections, I like it better than pills. I dont like the Humira injections though.

When I was on Methotrexate I used to take 15mg on a Friday, 15mg on a Saturday and Folic Acid every other day. This was to ensure I received the high dose with minimal side effects over the weekend, allowing me to go to school/college during the week. Seemed to do the trick for me.

Best wishes

Daydreamer, My rheumey just called in a RX for MTX injections, My first time on this one ( I take Enbrel once a week with no problems. )Did you take your first injection at the Dr's office in case of side effects? I'm just concerned about taking it at home the first time, thanks, Rain I take 15 mg. on Tuesday mornings - so 6 pills every week. Works really well for me. I don't have too much in the way of side effects.

h2osign, I decided to take my first MTX injection at the doctors office just because I was nervous about it as I'd never poked myself with a needle before.

I'm one of the lucky ones, I've never had any side affects from it and so far my blood tests all come back good.

My only problem with injectable MTX is I have developed a burn mark in the area where I was injecting it. Has anyone else had this happen?