I have been diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica & am about to start taking Methotrexate(MTT)?

To reduce inflammation, my rheumatologist started me on 55 mgs of prednisone. I did not tolerated methotrexate was worst on my stomach and intestines than the pain and inflammation of polymialgia. Used prednisone 3 weeks then started lowering from 55 to 30, to 25, to 20, to 15, to 10 and currently I stayed at 5 mgs daily. This is my 8th year and if I stop the prednisone I get full pain back and 95 seed rate for inflammation so I stayed on 5 mgs and my doctor gave me an inyection of Prolia for my bones. Prednisone gets your bone density to red zone and eventually osteoporosis.

I have PMR and for 5 yrs I was on Prednisone and my way to get off it is to use 20mg of Methotrexate and I am down to 1mg prednisone from 20mg slowly over three yrs. p.S. I have to take 4, over the counter , 1 mg of folic acid the following day,
I feel pretty good but blood tests every 2 months are required. I live in Canada and fortunately pay nothing for most medications including these.
I wish you Good luck

Did you start with a larger dose of prednisone? When I have a flare it takes 30-40 mg to start and then I wean down SLOWLY. I couldn't take methotrexate. The side effects were worse than the pain. Is your doctor a Rheumatologist. You may need to find one. I'm in fairly good control. Every once in awhile I have a flare and have to get back on prednisone for awhile. Blood work isn't always relfective of your pain. My doctor treats according to the severity of my symptoms. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Please dont go near anyone who is ill if you going to start that stuff it really compromises your immune system if you don't feel right stop taking it. It doesn't agree with everyone. Research it before you take it is a very nasty med to some. it was to me.
some say it help but it made me feel literally evil so against my character I hid away till I could get it out of my system. All the best

MTT has more potential for side effects, I believe, than prednisone. I would ask to take far more than 10mg to see if it will drop inflammation markers before embarking on a new drug.

This is a dangerous drug..the side effects are harmful to your body and organs.
Have you tried methylprednisolone? It can be injected by your doctor and taken orally as well. Perhaps a small increase in dosage for a short time..then a taper down to the lowest you can without pain. Of course, there are side effects with prednisone..however..if you take a bone building supplement and go on a
Good diet with fresh fruits..vegs..no alcohol or sodas..you could manage better, hopefully.

I've been on Methotrexate for over 10 years and have found it to be very effective for maintaining mobility with no side effects. I was given instructions by the Rheumatology Nurse about taking it once a week 2 hours after my last meal of the day and then taking 5 mg of folic acid about 4 or 5 days later. I am regularly blood tests and the results are okay. I have heard from other patients who are also getting on okay with Methotrexate.

I hope you get on okay and find a drug that is effective for you.

Since the original question seems to have been asked/posted in 2010... I wonder what happened with the addition of MTX? I have GCA so don't have the pain other diagnosis have, I do manage to have side effects from almost all the Rx that I am using. The MTX was added as I started my taper from prednisone as a sparring agent. Unlike the original poster, I was on a large dose of prednisone started at 80mg and then 60mg, so the taper is slow, slow, slow... even without any flares. It appears that MTX is added for different reasons for different diagnosis. I'm interested in anyone who has GCA and how their battle is going???

I have had PR for more than 3 years. I tried for a long time to just deal with it, but sometimes the pain was so severe in my legs I could hardly walk. Prednisone controlled my symptoms, but the long term side effects are terrible. I finally agreed to try Methotrexate, and later had to add Leflunomide. My symptoms are controlled and I am able to function normally. I haven't suffered any side effects. I've been on Methotrexate for a year. Hope this helps.

I have had PMR and giant cell arthritis for a year. My doctor started me on 40 mg per day and it was a tremendous relief. I tapered down but relapsed in November and went back to 20 mg. All the sites I have read say to start with 20-40 mg for PMR and 40-60 mg for GCA.
I too would be highly concerned about methotrexate and suggest that you first find out how much Prednisone it takes to relieve the swelling and pain. Since you don't stay with the higher dose that long, the side effects are not as serious as methotrexate plus lower dose Prednisone.
Also I found that to have 24 hour relief I would take 1/4 to 1/3 of my dose in the evening so that I wouldn't be awake and in pain at 3 AM.

I was diagonosed with pmn Jan 2018 my blood sed rate was 99 .My age 77 could hardly get up had trouble walking in constant pain level 8. Was put on predsinome 20 mg per day have since tapered it over 14momths to 1mg Started taking Metroxate 10 mg 1 a week after my blood sed rate was down to 49 .IT helped with hand pain knee and back pain.after 13 months my blood sed rate is 19 normal for my age 78 .Will be completety off prednisone in 1 month.Dont know how long i will have to take metroxate for MY rheumotoligist will decide .Had no side effects from meteroxate. Hope this helps

Yes I was on Methotrexate for 4 months, then started having a few negative issues. My skin started breaking out in painful nodules. I started feeling Ill and having other weird pains. My doc took me off and I started Humira. Metho works for some and not for others. After stopping this medication all those symptoms did also. In order for insurance co to pay the $5000 a month for Humira you do have to try methotrexate. If your doc is prescribing this med then it means you need to be on an anti inflammatory,and prednisone is real dangerous at high doses. this is why you need another med to take w it. Most stay on smaller doses of prednisone after starting both metho and Humira and some can stop the pred all together. My opinion is anything is better than a high dose over 20mg of prednisone. 40-60mg of prednisone was making me very ill. I started to feel like I was dying. I looked like death aswell.

I have been taking MTT for PMR about 3 months and I have noticed an improvement in the joint pain. I'm taking a very small dosage, 2.5 mg twice a week... my pharmacist tells me there are very little side affects with a dosage this mild. hope it helps you.

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rhuematica in March 2010 and over a year later continue in pain. I was on Predsnisone, folic acid and Methotrexate. The Dr. has been reducing the Pred from 80 mg to 3mg and the methotrexate is a 5 pills once a week. As we do not want to up the prednisone the doctor has decided to increase the methotrexate to 8 tablets once a week.
I take tylenol 3 at least once or twice a day so that I can get up and moving. At the present time I am feeling very low possibly due to the continuous pain levels. Does anyone else know how to beat this illness or at least make it liveable?

I was diagnosed with PMR in 2005 and have been fighting the pain ever since. I have not wanted to stay on prednisone, I hate being on it. My rhuematologist has started me on Methotrexate back in February telling me it takes several months for the medicine to take effect. I am currently on Methotrexate and Prednisone, the idea being that if the Methotrexate helps we will start cutting back on the Prednisone. All I know is that if I am not on anything, the pain is so severe I cannot even get out of a chair. Oh and by the way, I am the only male I know who has PMR... good luck!