Life-threatening adverse effects from methotrexate are possible. Only use methotrexate to treat cancer or certain other extremely serious illnesses that are resistant to other treatments. Discuss the dangers of using methotrexate for your disease with your doctor.

Inform your doctor if you have or have ever had kidney disease, extra fluid in your stomach area, fluid around your lungs, or any of these conditions. Aspirin, choline magnesium trisalicylate (Tricosal, Trilisate), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), magnesium salicylate (Doan’s), naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), or salsalate are examples of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs) that you should mention to your doctor. You may be more likely to experience severe methotrexate side effects if you have these diseases or take certain drugs. Your doctor will keep a closer eye on you and may need to reduce the amount of methotrexate you receive from time to time, or maybe stop it altogether.

Your bone marrow’s capacity to produce blood cells may decline as a result of methotrexate. If you have or have ever had a low amount of any sort of blood cell or if there is another issue with your blood cells, let your doctor know. If you notice any of these signs, contact your doctor right away: Infection-related symptoms including a sore throat, chills, fever, or unusual bruising or bleeding, as well as severe fatigue, pale complexion, or shortness of breath.

When administered for an extended period of time, methotrexate can harm the liver. Your doctor may advise against using methotrexate unless you have a life-threatening form of cancer if you consume or have previously consumed substantial amounts of alcohol, have liver disease, or any of these conditions because there is a larger risk that you will suffer from liver damage. Additionally, if you have diabetes, are fat, or are elderly, your risk of developing liver damage may be higher. Inform your physician if you are using acitretin (Soriatane), azathioprine (Imuran), isotretinoin (Accutane), sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), or tretinoin (Vesanoid). Inquire with your doctor if drinking alcohol is okay for you to do so while taking methotrexate. If you suffer any of the following symptoms, call your doctor right away: nausea, excessive fatigue, lack of energy, appetite loss, pain in the upper right region of the stomach, yellowing of the skin or eyes, or flu-like signs. Before and throughout your treatment with methotrexate, your doctor may order liver biopsies (the removal of a small piece of liver tissue for laboratory analysis).

Lung injury may result from methotrexate. If you have lung disease now or ever had it, let your doctor know. If you develop any of the following signs: a dry cough, a fever, or shortness of breath, call your doctor right once.

You run the risk of harming the lining of your mouth, stomach, or intestines when taking methotrexate. Inform your doctor if you currently have or have ever had ulcerative colitis or stomach ulcers (a condition which causes swelling and sores in the lining of the colon [large intestine] and rectum). Call your doctor straight away and stop taking methotrexate if you suffer any of the following symptoms: mouth sores, diarrhoea, black, tarry, or bloody faeces, or bloody or coffee-ground-looking vomit.

Utilizing methotrexate may raise your likelihood of lymphoma development (cancer that begins in the cells of the immune system). If lymphoma does develop in you, it may go away on its own when you stop taking methotrexate, or it may require chemotherapy.

As methotrexate kills cancer cells, you can experience some drawbacks if you’re using it to treat cancer. Your physician will keep a close eye on you and manage any side effects if they develop.

Serious or perhaps fatal skin reactions can be brought on by methotrexate. Call your doctor right away if you suffer any of the following symptoms: fever, rash, blisters, or peeling skin.

Your immune system’s function could be compromised by methotrexate, which increases your risk of developing life-threatening infections. Inform your doctor if you have any infections of any kind and if you currently have or have ever had an autoimmune disease. If your cancer is not life-threatening, your doctor could advise against taking methotrexate. Call your doctor right away if you suffer any infection-related symptoms, such as a sore throat, cough, fever, or chills.

Methotrexate may raise the likelihood that radiation therapy will harm your skin, bones, or other body parts if you take it while you are receiving treatment for cancer with radiation therapy.

Keep all of your appointments with your physician and the lab. Before, during, and after your treatment, your doctor will request specific lab tests to monitor your body’s response to methotrexate and to manage side effects before they worsen.

If you or your partner intend to become pregnant, let your doctor know. Before starting methotrexate treatment, female patients must perform a pregnancy test. Use an effective birth control method to prevent pregnancy in yourself or your partner during or soon after therapy. If you’re a guy, you should continue using birth control for three months after stopping methotrexate, along with your female spouse. Use birth control if you’re a female until one menstrual cycle that started after you stopped taking methotrexate has passed. Call your doctor right away if either you or your partner becomes pregnant. The foetus may suffer injury or perhaps pass away from methotrexate.

When previous therapies fail to control severe psoriasis, which causes red, scaly patches to appear on various parts of the body, methotrexate is employed. To treat severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA; a disorder in which the body destroys its own joints, producing pain, swelling, and loss of function) that is resistant to some other treatments, methotrexate is also occasionally combined with rest, physical therapy, and other medications. In addition, methotrexate is used to treat a variety of malignancies, including those that start in the uterine tissues that surround a fertilised egg, breast cancer, lung cancer, specific head and neck cancers, specific forms of lymphomas, and leukaemia (cancer that begins in the white blood cells). The drug methotrexate belongs to the group of drugs known as antimetabolites. By reducing the growth of cancer cells, methotrexate treats cancer. In order to prevent the development of scales, methotrexate slows the growth of skin cells in psoriasis. Methotrexate may treat rheumatoid arthritis by reducing immune system activation.

Methotrexate is available as an oral tablet. You’ll be advised by your physician on how frequently to take methotrexate. Your ailment and how your body reacts to the drug will determine the schedule.

Your doctor could advise you to take methotrexate on a rotating schedule, where you alternate days when you take the drug with days or weeks when you don’t. If you are unsure of how or when to take your medication, please follow these instructions and see your doctor or pharmacist.

Your doctor might advise you to take methotrexate once a week if you are taking it for psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis. Follow your doctor’s instructions carefully. When methotrexate was administered once weekly instead of once daily by mistake, some patients either died or experienced very serious adverse effects.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any instructions on your prescription label that you are unsure about following. Consume methotrexate as prescribed. Never take it in larger or less amounts or more frequently than directed by your doctor.

Your doctor may put you on a low dose of methotrexate and then gradually increase it if you have psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis. Pay close attention to these guidelines.

It may take 3 to 6 weeks for your symptoms to start to improve if you are taking methotrexate to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and 12 weeks or longer for you to feel the full effects of the medication. Even if you feel good, keep taking methotrexate. Without consulting your doctor, do not discontinue taking methotrexate.

Other autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), in which the immune system attacks the nerves and causes weakness, numbness, loss of muscle coordination, problems with vision, speech, and bladder control, are also occasionally treated with methotrexate. Crohn’s disease is a condition in which the immune system attacks the lining of the digestive tract, causing pain, diarrhoea, weight loss, and fever (conditions that develop when the immune system attacks healthy cells in the body by mistake). Inquire with your doctor about the dangers of using this drug to treat your disease.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more details if you believe this drug should be used for something else.

Before taking methotrexate,

• If you have an allergy to methotrexate, any other drugs, or any of the ingredients in methotrexate tablets, tell your doctor and pharmacist right away. For a list of the ingredients, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
• Inform your doctor and pharmacist about all prescription and over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, dietary supplements, and herbal products that you are now taking or intend to use. Mention the drugs in the IMPORTANT WARNING section as well as any of the following: Certain antibiotics like chloramphenicol (chloromycetin), penicillins, and tetracyclines; folic acid (available by itself or as a component of some multivitamins); additional rheumatoid arthritis medications; phenytoin (Dilantin); probenecid (Benemid); sulfonamides like co-trimoxazole (Bactrim, Septra), sulfadiazine (Theochron, Theolair). Your physician might need to adjust the dosage of your drugs or keep a close eye on you for side effects.
• If you currently have, or have ever had, any of the conditions listed in the IMPORTANT WARNING section, or if your blood folate level is low, let your doctor know.
• If you are on methotrexate, do not breastfeed.
• You should let your doctor or dentist know that you are taking methotrexate if you are having surgery, including dental surgery.
• Plan to use protective clothes, sunglasses, and sunscreen and to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight or UV radiation (tanning beds and sunlamps). Your skin may become more susceptible to UV or sunlight while taking methotrexate. If you are taking methotrexate and have psoriasis, it could make your sores worse if you expose your skin to the sun.
• Avoid getting any shots while taking methotrexate without first consulting your doctor.

Keep eating normally unless your doctor instructs you otherwise.

If you miss a dosage, take it as soon as you recall. If the next dose is soon due, skip the missed one and carry on with your regular dosing plan. To make up for a missing dose, do not take a second one.

There may be negative effects from methotrexate. If any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away, let your doctor know right once:

• Dizziness
• Drowsiness
• Headache
• Enlarged, sensitive gums
• A diminished appetite
• Flamboyant eyes
• Hair fall

Some adverse effects can be very harmful. Call your doctor right away if you have any of these signs or any of those in the IMPORTANT WARNING section:

• Vision haziness or a sudden loss of eyesight
• Seizures
• Confusion
• Moving one or both sides of the body with weakness or difficulty
• Consciousness loss

Other negative effects of methotrexate are possible. If you experience any strange issues while taking this medicine, contact your doctor right away.

You or your doctor can submit a report to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting programme online or by phone if you have a serious side event (1-800-332-1088).

Keep this medication tightly closed in the original container and out of the reach of children. Store it away from excessive heat and moisture at room temperature (not in the bathroom).

Unused prescriptions must be disposed of carefully to prevent pets, kids, and other people from ingesting them. You should not, however, dispose of this medication in the toilet. Instead, utilising a medicine take-back programme is the easiest approach to get rid of your medication. To find out about take-back programmes in your area, speak with your pharmacist or the garbage/recycling department in your city. If you do not have access to a take-back programme, see the FDA’s Safe Disposal of Medicines website at http://goo.gl/c4Rm4p for additional information.

As many containers (such as weekly pill minders and those for eye drops, creams, patches, and inhalers) are not child-resistant and are simple for young children to open, it is crucial to keep all medications out of sight and out of reach of children. Always lock safety caps and promptly stash medication up and away from young children where it is out of their sight and reach to prevent poisoning. http://www.upandaway.org

Call the poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222 in the event of an overdose. Additionally, information can be found online at https://www.poisonhelp.org/help. Call 911 right once if the person has collapsed, experienced a seizure, is having difficulty breathing, or cannot be roused.

No one else should take your medication. Any queries you may have regarding medication refills should be directed to your pharmacist.

You should keep a written record of every medication you take, including any over-the-counter (OTC) items, prescription drugs, and dietary supplements like vitamins and minerals. This list should be brought with you whenever you see a doctor or are admitted to the hospital. You should always have this information with you in case of emergencies.