Hello. I’ve recently been prescribed methotrexate for arthritis caused by immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) following a diagnosis of stage 3b accral lentiginous melanoma. I’ve had joint pain since my second treatment and the pain has continued since I finished a full course of immunotherapy last July. Steroids took away the joint pain but it came back when I stopped taking them.
When I read the leaflet about possible side effects of methotrexate I was shocked by the severity of them. I know all drugs come with slightly alarmist warnings but this one was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before (possible death was mentioned several times). In contrast, when I asked the rheumatologist about side effects she only mentioned possible stomach problems and said methotrexate was a very safe medication.
I would be really interested to hear of anyone’s experience of taking methotrexate. Is it just a case of abundance of caution in the side effects leaflet? How much has it helped with joint pain? What side effects have you had?
I’ve been managing the arthritis on low dose steroids (5mg prednisolone), paying for physio treatment (which has really helped), doing lots of physio-recommended exercises, drinking lots of water, and swimming. All this has helped considerably. I know I can’t keep taking steroids, even low dose ones, so I’m thinking my other option is to slowly wean off them over the next couple of months. If that doesn’t work then I might have to try methotrexate (which the rheumatologist said I will need to take for a minimum of two years).
Thank you for reading and I’d be very grateful for any advice.
