Methotrexate and Sick: What Users Say

• Anonymous
• March 1, 2012

For Rheumatoid Arthritis "I have been taking the medication since June 2011. I like it, but I'm always sick. It minimizes the pain and swelling, but it doesn't take it all away. I wake up every morning, and I can hardly move my ankles. I'm way too young to have to deal with this. I'm only 22 years old. Some days I feel like I'm suffering, and if I'm sick, I can't even walk."

• Mac...
• March 6, 2016

For Rheumatoid Arthritis "Been taking Methotrexate for almost 3 years now. Last fall, I felt good enough that I went off it without my Dr's knowledge, because it made me feel pretty ill for a day or so after. What a mistake! I started taking it again about 2 months ago, and although it still makes me sick, it sure beats the pain I'm in without it. (on 25 mg a week, along with Hydroxychloroquin and folic acid)"

• kul...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 30, 2015

For Psoriasis "I've been taking this medicine for 9 weeks now. I'm taking 7.5 mg once a week but have seen NO difference whatsoever! All I seem to be getting is little boils everywhere, sickness, nausea, and weight gain! :("

• Cle...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 26, 2016

For Psoriatic Arthritis "Terrible experience - never again! I started taking the methotrexate on Thursday morning and felt sick for days! I'm highly sensitive to medication and was given 10 mg and 5 mg of folic acid all days except dose day. I managed to get to work the next day but was very fatigued, vague, and couldn’t function too well. I have never felt so tired as I did the weekend after and had to cancel all my plans. From Friday night, I was totally wiped out, no appetite, couldn’t stay awake, tummy ache, headache, and since Sunday, strands of hair have been falling out. My fringe/bangs thinned out, and hair kept falling out - after 1 tablet. It was a terrible experience."

• hea...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• February 1, 2017

For Rheumatoid Arthritis "Methotrexate made me sick for days after taking it. I was on it off and on for 7 years and in different ways, and all made me sick. If you're not in school or have kids, yeah, it's cool, it kind of works if you don't have RA bad, but if in school or have kids, DON'T TAKE."

• Bad...
• July 9, 2016

For Psoriatic Arthritis "Never felt so ill! I take 25 mg weekly via injection. Never suffered side effects with other medication. This stuff is a horrible poison. Mouth ulcers, sickness that never goes away. Too many blood tests to count. Constant fatigue. Dull, depressed headaches and joint pain, which means other pills, which means other pills to counteract the side effects of the other lot! Ad infinitum. Depressing, really. On the plus side, (there is one surprisingly), more mobility. I am a resident of the UK, so our healthcare system will be alien to you. We all contribute via an employment tax called National Health Contributions. And it's the envy of the Western world (when it works)."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• May 11, 2017

For Rheumatoid Arthritis "MTX stopped my periods, although hormonal tests show no onset of menopause (age 53). Blurry vision (garlands) for 30 minutes after intake (6 tablets). Sickness sometimes for up to 24 hours. Joint pain is increased for two to three days. Effect is moderate, must add Actemra. TNF inhibitors largely without effect."

• ALF...
• March 20, 2017

For Psoriatic Arthritis "Was on a 20 mg dose and OK for a couple of years, but by then I had put on 2 stone in weight. Then I started getting other side effects. I put up with it for another 3 years, but I had to come off it due to the problems I was getting, e.g., not eating properly, sleep problems, mouth ulcers, etc. I was put on sulfasalazine and lasted for three weeks, and that did make me ill."

• San...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• August 12, 2022

For Rheumatoid Arthritis "I have been on methotrexate now for 16 years for my RA when I first got it. 20 mgs each Saturday. Been on Enbrel Intercept biological 50 mg injectable with it on Thursdays and Arava Leflunomide 20 mg tab each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a folic acid tab on Wednesday. I started feeling very sick about 2 years ago and have been told I now have liver fibrosis, i.e., scarring grade 3. Didn’t know I ever had grade 1, which is bordering on the next step being cirrhosis of the liver. Extremely, extremely upset. Why wasn’t this picked up by my routine monthly blood tests?????? (Which is what they’re done for, to keep an eye on your organs, etc.). Once your liver has gone, that’s “IT.” I am so very disappointed as it looks like (a). I either stop taking it and will be in a wheelchair with a very scarred, on its way out liver, or keep taking it, killing myself through my now damaged, permanently liver."

• chu...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• November 23, 2020

For Psoriasis "I took methotrexate for about a year and a half before I took myself off it for about 2 years. I didn't experience much other than it had completely cleared my psoriasis. However, saying this, whenever I did take it, I just felt unwell. I cannot explain how it made me feel, but I can still vividly remember it. Due to my skin becoming increasingly worse, I have been forced to go back on this medication."

• Dam...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 24, 2020

For Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis "I was officially diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) at 14, and they put me on methotrexate. I experienced more pain on it than not, and the reaction it had with my nervous system had my stomach churning and me sitting in the bathroom in case I got physically sick from it (which ended up happening a few times)."

• Ean...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 31, 2019

"My medical condition is polycondritis and Sweets Syndrome, and I have been on methotrexate for a month, and my test results are worse than before while taking it. I was originally taking dapsone, which I loved. No side effects and no restrictions! However, apparently it was lowering my blood count, and I was becoming anemic (I guess one side effect, eye roll). Anyways, ever since I started methotrexate, I have just felt awful. Always exhausted, fatigued, body muscles and joints ache, sick constantly, and just weird things that weren’t happening before. I’m seeing my rheumatologist in a few weeks, but I’m trying to get off this ASAP. I take six pills once a week and folic acid daily."

• Tes...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 6, 2023

"I have Sjögren's and started on 6 pills. The first two weeks were okay, then the third week I became unwell. Today is week 3. I took the suggested dose of six pills. First, for three months, I took three pills."

• kog...
• December 28, 2010

For Psoriasis "I started on methotrexate tablets at first, but they made me feel very sick, so I was put on an injection. It made me feel a lot better."

• Anonymous
• January 14, 2009

For Psoriasis "Pill form is very hard on stomach, lots of sickness. But I have found the injectable form to be fantastic."