[split] Methotrexate Booklet

[jiml]

That's very interesting and a bit disturbing, but not surprising, thank you for posting that, it will give users something to ponder  

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EDIT By Fred: This is a split from this thread: Methotrexate Booklet

[JohnB]

Mmmm. Definitely food for thought. As I had previous history (Endocarditis) my Dermy was very reluctant to give me mtx or cyclosporin as I had a compromised system and he didn't want to drive it down further. This was somewhat concerning at the time, because after 6 weeks on the antibiotic equivalent of drain cleaner just over 5 years ago I thought I was cured and everything was back to normal.

[pingu]

Definitely food for thought. I am always concerned about how open the consultants are. I may ask about the long term of being on MTX, if the answer is "well as soon as your liver starts to have issues", I may be asking for a review of treatments.

[Fred]

Yes it is interesting what Sammikins said about her Italian gastroenterologist saying it is banned in Italy. And as most will know I'm not a fan of methotrexate and think it should be banned for treating psoriasis, but I have been unable to find anything that confirms it is banned in Italy.

The most recent information I found in regard to methotrexate and Italy was a study 2016 Mar 25 about it's use for rheumatoid arthritis. I'm not saying I don't believe what Sam's consultant said, but I think some evidence to prove it would be good.

It should be banned in my opinion and I would be pleased to know that Italy has banned it especially for use with psoriasis patients, but we have to be careful not to worry those that are using it.

Just my opinion.

[jiml]

Yes I had a look around and could find no evidence to support Sams gastroenterologist, however I don't know Italian so there may be some Italian publication it's in, but whether it's banned or not in Italy, I believe it is dangerous and I am fearful of using it myself

[D Foster]

There is a lot of prejudice against MTX which ,for some people ,works really well. There are other treatments that are not the best for your body such as cyclosporine which I would not touch again with a barge pole plus several others that caused me terrible side effects and any drug that caused me as many problems of some these can't do your body any good.  MTX has been used for a very long time and all the side effects are well know which again with some of the newer ones have not been around long enough to know about long term.
I would not knock any treatment because some work better for people than others as we are all different and if they are happy using it, appreciate all the plus and minus aspects of it then away you go.
I used MTX for over nine years and all my blood tests/liver and kidney tests were ok and it worked especially for my PsA but eventually the side effects got to much but I don't appear to have any long term problems and when I think of how bad I was when I started taking it with hospital admissions and almost complete P cover and I mean complete cover then in those circumstances it was a life saver as it gave me 80% clearance when nothing else had worked. The newer treatments now like the Stelara I am on now were just not around  .

[pingu]

OK I have read some of the horror stories of MTX but I will also say there will equally be anecdotal stories of non prescription drugs such as paracetamol and ibuprofen causing massive problems and even death.

Paracetamol was much more regulated in recent years as it was the drug of choice for suicides as it destroys your liver in large doses.

Time for a new thread I feel.

[jiml]

OK I have read some of the horror stories of MTX but I will also say there will equally be anecdotal stories of prescription drugs such as parcetamol and ibuprofen causing massive problems and even death.

Paracetamol was much more regulated in recent years as it was the drug of choice for suicides as it destroys your liver in large doses.

Time for a new thread I feel.

Very true Pingu, all drugs have risks, it's a matter of weighing up the benefit against the risk and base your decision on that

[Caroline]

A study on ehealthme reports:

Quote:

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Review: could Methotrexate cause Pml (Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy)?

Summary: Pml is found among people who take Methotrexate, especially for people who are female, 60+ old, have been taking the drug for 1 - 6 months, also take medication Prednisone, and have Rheumatoid arthritis. We study 130,064 people who have side effects while taking Methotrexate from FDA and social media. Among them, 246 have Pml.


Methotrexate
Methotrexate has active ingredients of methotrexate sodium. It is often used in rheumatoid arthritis. (latest outcomes from 131,421 Methotrexate users)

Pml
Pml (rapidly progressive neuromuscular disease caused by opportunistic infection of brain cells) has been reported by people with multiple sclerosis, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, non-hodgkin's lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis. (latest reports from 5,174 Pml patients)

On Apr, 5, 2016: 130,055 people reported to have side effects when taking Methotrexate. Among them, 246 people (0.19%) have Pml.
Trend of Pml in Methotrexate reports
Time on Methotrexate when people have Pml * :
< 1 month 1 - 6 months 6 - 12 months 1 - 2 years 2 - 5 years 5 - 10 years 10+ years
Pml 3.03% 36.36% 21.21% 0.00% 6.06% 27.27% 6.06%
Gender of people who have Pml when taking Methotrexate * :
Female Male
Pml 64.86% 35.14%
Age of people who have Pml when taking Methotrexate * :
0-1 2-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+
Pml 0.00% 0.41% 7.85% 4.13% 3.31% 16.94% 24.38% 42.98%

[D Foster]

A study on ehealthme reports:

Quote:

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Review: could Methotrexate cause Pml (Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy)?
.Summary: Pml is found among people who take Methotrexate, especially for people who are female, 60+ old, have been taking the drug for 1 - 6 months, also take medication Prednisone, and have Rheumatoid arthritis. We study 130,064 people who have side effects while taking Methotrexate from FDA and social media. Among them, 246 have Pml.


Methotrexate
Methotrexate has active ingredients of methotrexate sodium. It is often used in rheumatoid arthritis. (latest outcomes from 131,421 Methotrexate users)

Pml
Pml (rapidly progressive neuromuscular disease caused by opportunistic infection of brain cells) has been reported by people with multiple sclerosis, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, non-hodgkin's lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis. (latest reports from 5,174 Pml patients)

On Apr, 5, 2016: 130,055 people reported to have side effects when taking Methotrexate. Among them, 246 people (0.19%) have Pml.
Trend of Pml in Methotrexate reports
Time on Methotrexate when people have Pml * :
< 1 month 1 - 6 months 6 - 12 months 1 - 2 years 2 - 5 years 5 - 10 years 10+ years
Pml 3.03% 36.36% 21.21% 0.00% 6.06% 27.27% 6.06%
Gender of people who have Pml when taking Methotrexate * :
Female Male
Pml 64.86% 35.14%
Age of people who have Pml when taking Methotrexate * :
0-1 2-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+
Pml 0.00% 0.41% 7.85% 4.13% 3.31% 16.94% 24.38% 42.98%

People who are taking MTX for rheumatoid arthritis are taking much higher doses than we do for P or even PsA so any conclusions would not apply to P sufferers .