Questions about injectible mtx

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My name is Toni and I have been in injectable for almost 6 months now. You

doctor or nurse should teach you how to draw up and measure the medicine before

injecting. They may do the first few shots for you and them have you start

doing them in there presence. Then you will be on your own. Its very easy. I

use insulin syringes. The have very small needles on them.

My MTX comes in 50mg in 2 ml of solution. Its pretty easy to figure it out.

1ml of solution is 25mg of MTX. Every 0.10 of a ml is equal to 2.5mg of MTX.

I take .60 which is the same as six 2.5mg tablets. This is how you measure it

out. the markings are on the syringes.

As far as side effects. I had them all when I was on pills:nausea, diarrhea,

headache, dizziness, vomiting and lung problems. So my doc switched me to

injections. I stil get nausea, diarrhea, headache and vomiting but nearly as

bad as when I was on the pills. I take my shots right before bed. I am also

take between 2-5 mg of Folic acid a day to help with the side effects.

I have bloodwork done every 2-4 weeks to check kidney function, liver

function and over suppression of my immune system. My doc says if I ever get

stable

he will stretch it out to maybe every 6 weeks.

Toni

In a message dated 1/28/04 6:32:41 AM Central Standard Time,

writes:

> Message: 6

> Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 18:20:43 -0000

> From: " neproper " <neproper@...>

> Subject: Questions about injectible mtx

>

> Hi,

> I have been on oral mtx. pills for about 2 years and they make me

> very ill for about 2 days after I take them. My rheumy just switched

> me to injectible mtx. but I am confused. He wants me to inject 20

> mg. once a week but the bottle comes in 50 mg. - I haven't received

> my needles yet- do they have something on them to help me measure

> this stuff out? Also, what can I expect from this in the way of side

> effects- are they as bad as the pills. Are there any things I should

> watch for? I have bloodwork done every month to watch for liver

> enzymes. This all seems more confusing than anything but I know

> someone out there can help answer some questions. Thanks,

>

>

[Guest guest]

i have a friend who couldn't take oral mtx and is doing fine on the shot. and

yes the needles has lines and numbers on them so you can tell where 20mgs. is.

good luck

neproper <neproper@...> wrote:Hi,

I have been on oral mtx. pills for about 2 years and they make me

very ill for about 2 days after I take them. My rheumy just switched

me to injectible mtx. but I am confused. He wants me to inject 20

mg. once a week but the bottle comes in 50 mg. - I haven't received

my needles yet- do they have something on them to help me measure

this stuff out? Also, what can I expect from this in the way of side

effects- are they as bad as the pills. Are there any things I should

watch for? I have bloodwork done every month to watch for liver

enzymes. This all seems more confusing than anything but I know

someone out there can help answer some questions. Thanks,