methotrexate??????

hi there- what's the deal with this drug? Who's on it, what do you take with it, how is it administered? And are you taking it simultaneously with Remicade? Most importantly, has it helped induce remission? Was it a "last resort" type of med? I've been doing some research in an effort to avoid surgery, & this is one drug I have not been on....yet! Next time I talk to my GI (week or so), I'm going to mention it & see what he thinks about it.

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diagnosed '02

I'm not on it - the use of methotrexate in UC is contraversial - it is useful in Crohn's however. There are ongoing studies being done to establish whether it is helpful in UC. The existing studies that showed little benefit unfortunately used quite a small dose of methotrexate orally - the studies that showed benefit in Crohn's generally used doses of 25mg a week by injection - so if it is to be used for UC this is the dose that should be given.

The other difficulty it interpreting the studies for UC is that in the past methotrexate was used where azathioprine had failed so it was being used in a very treatment resistant subgroup of patients.

Have you ever been put on tacrolimus as there is some quite good evidence that this can be helpful for resistant UC - I think this is one treatment that may be on the cards for me soon.

Hope this is helpful