methotrexate and the liver? | Arthritis Information

Hi everyone,

I've been on Methotrexate for a few years now and just recently my Rheumatologist had to lower my dose of due to a blood test result. Apparently the liver number had rose to an unsafe number. I'm also on Mobic and Humira.

While on the higher dose of Methotrexate I was feeling better that I had in a very long time. My doctor lowered the dose and put me on Plaquinel and steroids. Even with the steroid... I don't feel as well as I had before.

My question is, in your experience have you been able to, at some point, go back on a higher dose of Methotrexate?
I may be wrong, but I think that once your liver is damaged you can't go back up. I am newer though, and have no experience with this.Of course if there was liver damage you would be absolutely right. When I was put on a lower dose, my liver number came back down to normal. It also took a while of being on the higher dose of MTX for the liver number to go up.

The RD mentioned raising it a little and keeping a close eye on it. Thats why I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this.

How high of a dose were you on Lndsie? How long exactly were you on it? I've been on a fairly high dose for years myself and have been lucky that my test have always been so.

I've heard of many people being taken off of it and then started taking it again once their numbers went down; but I don't think I've heard of anyone just having their dose lowered. I don't know.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood.

Hi,

I don't know about your question but want to mention that Milk Thistle and Dandelion are natural liver cleansers and you might want to ask your Dr about taking them. They are both in the same supplement that I take and my liver is so far doing well.

Hey Bonny,
I was taking milk thistle for a while but then I read it can slow down how fast you liver processes drugs, so I stopped. Do you know anything about that or have any good resources I could read more about milk thistle?
Like Lovie, I had only heard that you are taken off of mtx til your liver function returns to within normal range and not just having the dose lowered. Did the doc say how far off your numbers were?I was on 10 mg for quite a while, but it wasn't helping. My dose was raised to 12 mg and I was doing well, but I'd say it was about 3 months when the liver number was high. I was brought back down to 10 mg and the liver number has returned to normal.

I'm not sure what the liver number went up to. The RD had said that it was only a tiny bit high. I suppose that is why the dose was only lowered and I wasn't taken off of it completely.

My liver functions are up, then down, then up, then down. My last LVs were elevated from a lab that my RD doesn't use. He requested that I have them down at another lab and I did.....liver functions were normal. Not all labs are created equal. Gimpy I will do some more research and post the results.

when my liver enzymes went up, the RD lowered my MTX dose.. boy that wasnt fun, I really NEED to be at 20 mg..

I made the decision to go off any kind of cholesterol drug, and just basically save my liver for MTX..

when my enzymes went back down, I went back to 20 mg of MTX.

I dont drink any alcohol at all, and when I get my blood test I do it the day I would take my MTX, but early in the morning.. so I have the least amount of MTX in my system..

Here's a daily drink I do for AP that helps flush the liver (except really I'm
only doing it about 3 times a week)

One whole lemon, including rind and seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
water

Put all the ingredients in a blender and puree until liquid.
Strain through a fine sieve, using a rubber spatuala to squeeze the liquid
from the pulp. Drink.

Some people add sugar or orange juice concentrate to make it more
palatable, but I like the taste of it plain just fine.Gimpy, Would there be any difference in eating salad with lemon juice and olive oil dressing? It's about the same amount of lemon juice. I also drink water with lemon juice. Wouldn't it work the same way? I'm getting ready to start thistle and dandelion for my liver health but am waiting till after I have some cardiac testing done next week. Don't want to start anything new till after testing.I'm not sure. Most places I've seen the cleanse drink written down it say to make sure you leave the lemon rind on and the seeds in, but I think that may just enhance the effectiveness of it (not sure, though). I would guess ingesting it as a salad dressing would be fine. I've heard that hot water with lemon helps cleanse the kidneys as well.

"The lemon and the extra virgin olive oil, when taken together, act as a potent liver and gallbladder flush, detoxifying the liver, lowering biliruben levels, removing heavy metals, increasing the production of bile from the liver, stimulating lymphatic flow, and restoring the pH of your saliva, which in turn helps you to absorb the nutrients from the food you eat." What Gimpy-a-gogo mentioned is to lubricate the gallbladder to discharge gallbladder stones. My liver functions went up after taking Avara (made me very unwell so had to go off it). I was on 20 mg MTX.I was dropped to 5 mg, then a month later up to 10 mg, last month liver function was still up a little but am now on 15 mg, will wait to see what it is this month. Seems as if anything that can go wrong goes wrong. hi eilly, i had the same problem but with the methotrexate. so i was started on arava. i have been taking arava now for about 5mths so far so good.Well, Kokako, you can use it for that as well, but it's effective as a liver flush and that's what I use it for.

Gimpy thanks for your suggestion. I have the wild lingzhi to protect and norish the liver.

As for olive oil/sesame oil with lemon juice, I drank at later part to lubricate the stones passage. The first part was to drink apple juice, then followed by a teaspoon of magnesium sulphate with warm water. That was good for removing gallstones.