Do patients put on Methotrexate and a combo of other RA drugs ever get weaned off the Methotrexate?

10/21/08

Edith Knight-Silva

Topics:Weaning off Methotrexate after 10 yrs of use

At 46 i was diagnosed with a severe acute case of migatory RA in 03/98, the onset of it was 11/97 but no one knew for sure until 03/98. 05/98 i was started on Meth.5mg wkly. to start then 10mg wkly within a mo, i was taking 15mg wkly by the end 0f 1998, because of deforming hand joints and extra misplaced calcium lumps along the underside of my fore arm near the elbow and the fat pads i called them, palm side of my fingers that prevented me from closing my hands and the same on the underside of my toes. My thumb joints were also frozen stiff by then and they didn't free up until 2mos + later after Meth. started. My Methotrexate dose was put up to 20mg wkly by at least the third yr, i was told this was the level that remission would be more like to occur. (frankly i noticed no change in my body at that increase time) I don't remember all the combinations of meds in the past that I was on w/ meth. but their were always 2 other meds, one use to be Celebrex but it caused my limbs to swell and i was taken off. The last and final present combination with Meth. is 200mg plaquenil 2x's daily,10mg Arava daily.of course always since Meth.1mg folic acid daily. This combo gave me more flexability to being normal like,but 08/05 on my own i discovered a natural fruit juice made from the Mangosteen fruit grown in SE Asia, distributed by the Xango co. This juice acts as a Cox2 inhibitor and took 90%of my pain away, it blew my Stanford research Dr's away to see what i could do after 30 days of 2oz 2x's daily and see my ESR go from 85-43 and my CRP went from 2.58-1.27 and NO more pain attacks.I then increased it to 2oz 3x's daily after that and 60 days later i was in 7th Heaven to normalcy (i call it),I feel it's now controlling 95-97% of the RA pain and "NO" more RA attacks.(I felt so much better i went ahead with my life long dream and purchased a ranch to raise Alpaca.) ESR/CRP were even lower and at times my CRP doesn't show and the ESR has been in single digets. My Dr knew nothing of this fruit but, is convinced it's doing something good for me so he tells me to coninue doing what I'm doing and "GOOD JOB". Since this patent juice can't be store purchaced and I'll be on Mangosteen juice for life w/RA,i joined the Co. as an Independant distributor member so i can buy it at whole sale cost.You can go to my website (www.edithknight.biz)as I've told all my Dr's and it'll explain in detail what makes this little fruit works so well for people like me. There's studies also at Pubmed,type in Mangosteen or Xanthones when you go there.It's been used for centuries in Asia for all sorts of things and amazingly no one until now is starting to do anything with it, I'm proud that someone is an American, God BIess him.This has more Xanthones,(nearly 44)than any one food known to man. I'm really axnious to start backing off the Methotrexate (because of it's dangers and I've been on it 10yrs now) if it's ever possible. I'm 57 and loving life instead of dreading what tomorrows RA pain will bring. It's hard for new people i meet to believe the stories my family and i tell of how crippled and dependant on others i was before these 2oz of Mangosteen J. 3x's a day came into my life. I love and praise my RA Dr's for all they helped me with to be able to function for the most part but, the Juice stopped the pain and the vertigo and gave me back my independance that I'd lost to RA. The difference now is, i have RA, it doesn't have me."BIG SMILES" Thanks for your time,I'd love to hear your opinion on the Methotrexate weaning. Edith Knight-Silva (ID#3723727)

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Answers (1)

Monday, October 27, 2008

Lene Andersen

I've heard of Xango - glad it's working for you.

Weaning off any type of disease modifying drug is possible. It happens every time you switch drugs - I went off methotrexate to start on Enbrel and didn't as much wean off as stop cold turkey with one and start another. However, when you are going off in a drug without substituting something else, it's a good idea to do it very slowly so you can assess the impact and reverse the process if you start getting symptoms.

You mention that Xango works as a Cox-2 inhibitor, which means it works like e.g., Celebrex and Vioxx in that it is an anti-inflammatory. It's a different class of medication than methotrexate, which is a DMARD (disease modifying antirheumatic drug). That means it works on the symptoms, not the underlying cause and I am bit concerned about the possible impact of going off your DMARD medication, as it is possible it's a combination of methotrexate and Xango that's packing the punch you're currently experiencing. I understand your concern about remaining on methotrexate, but would recommend that you discuss the issue with your rheumatologist to get a broader sense of the pros and cons of removing methotrexate from your regimen. The good news is that he's on board and happy with your situation - some doctors are so resistant to alternative methods that they close their eyes to evidence that it's working - and should you choose to go forward with this plan, he will be able to support you through it. It may mean that he would want you to have more frequent appointments to monitor the activity levels of your RA, just in case you need to get back to partnering the juice with a DMARD.

Good luck with your health and the alpacas!