[split] Methotrexate Booklet

[jiml]

Also it mentions taking it as a cocktail with prednisone which also has links to PML

[pingu]

A quick google also reveals anecdotal evidence of Fumaderm and PML etc, just for balance.

[Fred]

If it's on ehealthme then it must be a good study.

[Caroline]

A quick google also reveals anecdotal evidence of Fumaderm and PML etc, just for balance.

That's only 4 and indeed anecdotical. I even talked personally to one of them.

4 versus 246

That is no balance, I rest my case...

[Caroline]

If it's on ehealthme then it must be a good study.  

You can find this number on more places Fred.
Don't try to make it ridiculous.

[pingu]

4 what sorry I didn't realise we were measuring! Exactly what case are you trying to make?

I am simply pointing out and have always recognised that drugs no matter which can have significant side effect. I have read of deaths on MTX because it has been taken in incorrect dosages due to misunderstandings etc. Similarly with many other drugs.

I know many people here don't like MTX which is fine but as Fred points out I would query the quality of the study that was posted above.

The thread was originally asking about the MTX booklet and has developed into how dangerous MTX is.

I think it worth also pointing out that no doubt there are a lot of people having a great deal of success on MTX including myself at the present time. Maybe the issues around MTX are due to its wide spread usage for several problems not just psoriasis.

[Fred]

If it's on ehealthme then it must be a good study.  

You can find this number on more places Fred.

If we all followed the numbers then we wouldn't take anything.

As you know I'm as against methotrexate as you, but we have to remember that some do well on it and some don't have another option until they have failed on it. All the talk of doctors saying it's banned in Italy and the figures about it's use with prednisone on patients with rheumatoid arthritis is going away a bit from the topic of A Methotrexate Booklet that is designed to aid the monitoring of a persons treatment.

Sorry but it's all sounding a bit scaremongering to me as opposed to personal opinions.

[Caroline]

If it's on ehealthme then it must be a good study.  

You can find this number on more places Fred.

If we all followed the numbers then we wouldn't take anything.

As you know I'm as against methotrexate as you, but we have to remember that some do well on it and some don't have another option until they have failed on it. All the talk of doctors saying it's banned in Italy and the figures about it's use with prednisone on patients with rheumatoid arthritis is going away a bit from the topic of A Methotrexate Booklet that is designed to aid the monitoring of a persons treatment.

Sorry but it's all sounding a bit scaremongering to me as opposed to personal opinions.

Ok. Yes, you have a point. There are people who are doing very well on it.

[Caroline]

Well to add more information that is relevant to the topic.
I found a study, by the US national library of medicine that shows that MTX is fully in use for at least RA in Italy. The study is from 2015.

[D Foster]

MTX is now regarded as the “gold standard” against which conventional DMARDs and the newer biologic drugs are measured, and it is generally agreed that it should be used early in the course of RA in most people with the condition. There is also evidence that its use will reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in people with RA.
It is doubtful whether MTX increases the risk of serious infection in the doses typically used to treat people with RA.
Methotrexate (MTX) was introduced in 1947. Because it slows down the growth of rapidly dividing cells it was used in high doses to treat people with leukaemia and other forms of cancer. In the early 1950s it was used in much lower doses to treat people with the skin condition psoriasis. Some people who had an inflammatory arthritis associated with their psoriasis noted that their joints improved as well as their skin, as did a few people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who were given MTX.
MTX is used in much higher doses for RA than for people with P.
Just like every other drug on the market it has good and bad especially if abused by people using other things like alcohol with it.