Methotrexate

Hi Everyone.
Has anyone tried Methotrexate for AU? I have been on DPCP for almost a year and had no real success. This is something new with an apparent 50-50 chance for AU.

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Permalink Reply by BMG on July 9, 2012 at 9:21am

I did try it for three months and nothing happened. I guess I was the 50% that didn't work. I felt like I was taking a pretty powerful and potentially dangerous drug that was not helping me so I decided to go off of it and put my energy into dealing with AA cosmetically. I hope you have better luck. Keep us posted

Permalink Reply by Tam on July 9, 2012 at 9:45pm

Hi Everyone!
Update: I have LOTS of white hairs on my legs and arms! I have even shaved under arms 2 x and have my whole head covered with white fuzz. I have about 5% of my head covered with random LONG white hairs, like 10+ cm long. My eyelashes are very mini but they are slowly coming back: no eyebrows.
My hair on my legs is getting so thick someone at work commented... its that noticeable.
All this is great but the side effects of the metho have NEVER been so bad. I really feel them about 2 days after and last week had a meltdown on my pharmacist asking for medication to reduce nausea. I vomited once but I think it was more food related. I have horrific heart burn and the nausea is so pronounced I have to stay home from work in the fetal position. I can't help but wonder if all the sun is affecting it? I wear SPF 60 everywhere but I wonder if I am more sensitive?

How is everyone else??

xx Tam !

Permalink Reply by Derek on July 11, 2012 at 10:40am

Hi Tam,
Sorry to hear about the horrendous nausea. I have been on this treatment for a year and did have the nausea to the point that I wanted to stop taking the medication. My dermtaologist told me to take my dosage right before bed. I tried this and it stopped my bouts with nausea.
I have noticed a huge difference; I have dark hair covering most of my scalp now (except for the normal male pattern baldness areas), also have eyebrows, a few eyelashes, but minimal body hair. The only side effect I still continue to have is the tiredness for two days following my dosage. Other than that, I feel great. Maybe you should try daily folic acid to decrease your nausea....wonder if that might help? Hope it improves for you! How's your summer? Loving the hot weather??

Permalink Reply by KimF4L on July 11, 2012 at 12:45pm

HI Derek
My ist dose of Methotrexate was Feb 17th 2012 and it was 6 pills 2.5mg each and then they upped it to 8 pills at 2.5mg each on June 22, 2012. I am taking it for Crohns/UC however but nothing on my head, eyebrows or lashes yet but I have some hair on my face (which I could live without lol) but i thought it might be a start. I got AU in Feb 2011 and all of hair was gone by May 2011.

Permalink Reply by Dana on July 11, 2012 at 5:16pm
Hi everyone!

Update....I too surfer from bad side effects like Tam but I'm determined to hang in there for at least nine months and then we'll see it's not been that effect in controlling the arthritis either.
I have gotten better anti nausea meds and heartburn meds at my GP's office I suggest that you ask him/her Tam they work better than over the counter ones.
My eyebrows have gotten worse eyelashes too still mini white hairs on my head funnily enough darker body hair (not completely but in odd paterns and very intermittently) underarms,legs toes and nether regions!! Exactly where I don't want it!! Maybe the growth is headed up here's hoping. I also switched to injection rather than pills less tummy issues only slightly though but worth it for me. Nothing helps the fatigue but it does improve by the weekend I take it Monday. Still taking folic daily.
Permalink Reply by Kat on July 12, 2012 at 2:19pm

Hi Derek,
It sounds like you've had pretty good success with the methotrexate treatment... Just wondering what your dosage was and how long it took for you to notice any initial re-growth?
I have had AU since December 2010 and have been on 22.5 mg (9 pills i think) since mid-April, so about 3 months and haven't noticed any hair anywhere. My Dr. originally prescribed 40 mg of prednisone with the methotrexate, but I had terrible side effects from that so I'm just on the methotrexate now. No side effects from that though, which is a relief I guess.
What are your thoughts on how long to stick with the methotrexate before seeing any results?
Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Derek on July 12, 2012 at 8:20pm

Hi Kat, I have been in on it for a year now (started in May 2011 at 10mg per week). My dosage is 20mg per week and has been since July 2011. I only really started to notice a difference in late Winter, early Spring of this year. It takes what seems forever to see any remarkable difference. My dermatologist is quite pleased with the results. Keep in mind, this is not a fix all - it may or may not restore all your lost hair. You might just get scalp hair back, some may only get their body hair back, etc... I really had to manage my expectations and learn patience with this treatment. Apparently, the prednisone speeds up the process, but my dermatologist outright refuses to put me on it. Feel free to send me a message if you have more questions.

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on July 12, 2012 at 8:57pm

Hey there, I am reading about the complaints of side effects of nausea and fatigue with the use of methotrexate. I am a visiting nurse that often goes to people's homes to give the injection of methotrexate, most of my patients are also on a weekly injection of B12, this would decrease the fatigue and also some of the nausea as it would build up the red blood count...supporting energy and digestion. Methotrexate is also used as a chemo drug and for this I would say increasing fluid intake will also help pass the toxic effect through your body quicker. I do agree with the last comment prednisone will speed up the results as it can control the underlying inflammation while the methotrexate can control the disease.
I am on a strong dose of prednisone short term and have seen more results in 2 months than I have seen in 2 years with the use of sulphasalazine. I am holding off on using methotrexate as a last resort. My dermatologist is titrating me down on the prednisone over 4 months and if that doesn't work then it is methotrexate for me. The sulphasalazine keeps the hair once it grows but does not promote growth like the prednisone does. I am AU but did get my eyebrows back last year with the injections, eyelashes back with the sulphasalazine and the most head hair regrowth so far with the prednisone. Good luck everyone!!!

Permalink Reply by Tam on September 15, 2012 at 10:01am

Hi Everyone-
How is everyone doing? Any news to share?
I have gone the injection route since we last spoke: increased dosage to 22.5 mg/ week and still on folate 1/week. I have lots of white fluff on my head and it is becoming stronger. Now you don't have to look "really really close" to see it, it is just that visible in any light. I also have new hair growth all over my body (I am AU). Since changing to injections, I have a lot less nausea but I feel soooooo tired I can hardly function. I will stick with this until February 2013 then decide if I am going to continue or not. So far the increased dosage has really resulted in more white growth.
Let me know your updates!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Kat on October 8, 2012 at 2:53pm

Wow Tam, that sounds like great news about your hair (not so great about the nausea and fatigue). I'm also AU and I just finished my 5th month on 20 mg/week (and 1 folic acid/day), and so far have no growth. At least I'm not experiencing horrendous side effects - mostly I just feel pretty tired for the 2 days after i take my weekly dose. I have an appointment with my dermatologist in a few weeks, so I'll see if going up a bit on the mtx might help get things going. She thought taking prednisone with it would probably get better results but that really gave me horrible side effects and I stopped taking it. So basically not much luck here yet... :(
It's interesting that you're on injections, I didn't even realize that was an option... do you feel tired all the time or only after you get the dose? I'm a bit worried that increasing the dose would give me bad side effects, but I would really loooove some growth. It's amazing how excited I can get over a few stray hairs cropping up here and there once in a while.

Permalink Reply by s on December 1, 2012 at 5:40pm

I took methodrexate for a month, but it gave me some sort of allergy. It scratched all over my body.
So I stopped.
Plus, i was so exhausted that i could barely get out of bed.

Permalink Reply by ASRN on December 2, 2012 at 11:16pm
This is very interesting to me because I have rheumatoid arthritis and used to be on MTX. My hair fell out years after i started it. I stopped it to have a baby and when i needed to go back on something my dr didn't want me on MTX because of the AU.

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