Methotrexate effectiveness between tablet and injection

[Crohn2357]

Hello, I've been using 15 mg MTX injections for 4 weeks and I decided to go tablet form of MTX. My doc said ok and I will use the same dose; but I have concerns about effectiveness. I can't find detailed information about the difference of effectiveness between tablet and injection. Do you have experience or/and information about this? I can't do needles myself and I hope the tablets will work the same.
Thanks.

 

[Jennifer]

My Rheumatologist prescribed Methotrexate a while back for me. He mentioned that for people with Crohn's disease it's better to take Methotrexate in injection form rather than pill form because of issues with absorption. Inflammation can make absorption difficult and scar tissue doesn't absorb anything. So because of that the pill form is less effective. That doesn't mean you wont absorb it at all though. Are you able to go into their office and have a nurse give you your injection instead of you doing it?

 

[Crohn2357]

Are you able to go into their office and have a nurse give you your injection instead of you doing it?

I thought it would be easier to take tablets instead of going to the hospital every week; but I don't know if that would be better for my treatment. Should I try the tablets and see the results?

 

[Jennifer]

It's worth a try if you aren't able to do the injections (be it you not being comfortable doing it yourself or aren't able to go in and have a nurse do it for various reasons like time or financial constraints etc). Good luck!

 

[Crohn2357]

Thank you. I also see people generally use 20-25mg of mtx in this forum and I wonder if my dose is low or not. I can't find information about how mtx dose is determined.

 

[Jennifer]

My dose was fairly low compared to everyone else on the forum as well. The highest I ever injected was .4ml which was too much for me so I went down to .2 and eventually worked my way up to .3ml. Sometimes doctors try to get away with as little medication as possible to get the job done and to try not to shock your system. If needed your dose can easily be bumped higher depending on your blood work and how you're feeling. The dose is determined by your body weight yet my doctor started on a lower dose for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[Crohn2357]

I understand. Thank you again.

 

[Amanda89]

Hi I was on 25mg mtx and switched from pill to injection and got same results either way. Only reason I switched to injection was to see if I could get a better result for my psoriasis.

 

[Crohn2357]

Hi. Did side effects change when you switched to the injection?

 

[Amanda89]

Nope, I still got same side effects on both, yet I know people who have had less side effects when switching from oral to injections and vice versa. I did develop Acid Reflux around the time I changed over to injections, but the timing was probably just coincidental.

 

[Crohn2357]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Clash]

My son hasn't had the injection but does take the oral form. He started out at 25mg per week. He had no side effects. After about 6 months he came of the MTX thinking that it was not needed(he is also on Remicade). Two months later, he started having some symptoms so the GI put him back on Remicade but at 7.5mg. He hasn't had symptoms since.

 

[Crohn2357]

Is 15mg oral MTX low for induction of remission? I don't use any other drug. Biologics didn't work for me.