Newly diagnosed, told to take MTX, help!

[jiml]

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your responses. Just having people to talk to about it, really does make a huge huge difference. 

I am definitely veering away from Methotrexate at this rate. The bad seems to far outweigh the good. 

I don't go mad on drinking, but both having a final lads holiday, and a lot of social events with alcohol involved, it would prove difficult to avoid.

At the moment, I have come to terms with having psoriasis and on reflection to most, it is no where near as bad, even though several months after the first patch appearing, I have noticed from photos a few more have popped up. At the moneny, coal tar and a very brief sunbed once a week are keeping it tame since I started this routing 10 days back. If this continue, I will get to the other side of my holidays and review.

Did anyone have any luck with coal tar at all? 

Also, when on holiday in the sun, did this affect anyone's psoriasis in any way? 

I have seen one or two, including Jim are big fans of Fumaderm. Is this not as toxic as Methotrexate. I am just about to have a good read of it. I am also currently going through all the posts on Pingus journey on MTX. A lot of responses for this!

Thanks again for any advice.

You may not get a choice from your dermatologist unless you have a kidney or liver problems they will probably ask you to try methotrexate first before moving on

I have never had luck with coal tar treatment, but to be honest it was a lot of years ago that I tried it and found it too messy and smelly and decided not to use it after a couple of days

Sunshine always used to be the thing I prayed for.....it was the one thing that always worked well on my psoriasis... But I had to find somewhere quiet to sunbathe until the plaques subsided

So yes enjoy your holiday and come back and make a decision on which treatment you would like , learn about it here so you can have a knowledgeable conversation with your dermatologist and tell him what you would like to use and a reason why..

Caroline has pointed you to her DMF thread, which explains how Fumaderm works.... It's not an immunosuppressive but does modify  your immune system ....the side effects you get from it are your body coming to terms with it..and can be harsh...
Whatever you do go on you will have to have your bloods monitored for changes ....which then can be controlled by adjusting doses

Pingu and D Foster both are happy on methotrexate ...we are all different and for some methotrexate works well