RE: MTX- How long do children stay on it?

[Guest guest]

Hi Christy,

It realy depends on the child.It is pretty safe to say at least a year and

most likely more.Symptoms have to be under control for atleast 6 months after

the discontinuation of the pred.Then they will not take the child off but

slowely taper the MTX.

Trust me,don't be in such a hurry to taper the meds.It takes a long time to

get things under control and once you get it you don't want to lose it.

Hugs

Becki and 6systemic

[Guest guest]

Hi, Christi. It depends. What a dr will do is after a child has been

symptom free on the med for a while (what is called a medicated

remission), they will begin to taper the dose. For example, my son

resonded well to mtx, so after he was completely symptom free for about

4 -5 months, the dr lowered his then dose from 10 mgs a week to 7.5 (4

pills to 3) That was in July of 2003, he started mtx in Dec 2001. By

Sept 2003, was flaring again, so it was back up to 10 mgs. Stayed

there for a while, then was moved up to 12.5 this past spring. He is now

at that point. Reducing the mtx was not good for so even though

he is doing well, the dr decided at last visit to leave it where it was,

not try a taper again. Summer has been good for since starting the

MTX and we did not want to take a chance. We shall see how the fall and

winter go, then may try a taper again. Unless the blood work shows some

problems (liver problems usually) a dr will try to taper slowly, it does

take time to get them off. How long total depends on the child. Some are

off in a short period of time - a year or so - some take it for years.

Hope this helps, Michele (17, pauci & spondy)

MTX- How long do children stay on it?

Hi! I have another question. My son will take his third dose of Mtx

today. (He takes the pills crushed up). He seems to be reponding

pretty well to the medicine. He is also down to 1 tsp of Orapred in

the AM. I know that there is a lot of " unknowns " to JRA but I was

wondering of there was a typical time period for children to be on

the MTX. Does there seem to be a certain amount of time that a

doctor will wait for the symptoms to be gone before he/she takes the

child off mtx? At the office visit I forgot to ask this. I did have

to talk to the Dr. over the phone and he said my son would be on the

mtx a long time. (Could not really get into the details over the

phone.) I am trying to see how long a long time is?

Thanks for your help.

Christi (Logan, systemic, age 3)

[Guest guest]

Hi Christi,

the time of medication is pretty individual, just like the course of

this disease. I can only tell you about our hospitals' policy. With

mtx it's usually one year in remission. This is a long time but this

is what our rheumy's believe in at the moment.

Soili & Juho 9, pauci

[Guest guest]

Christi:

Our son (Carrick, aged 12, onset age 9, poly) has been taking MTX via

injection for over 2 years. we were told that he would take it for 9 months to

2

yrs when we started. We were also told that they believed early aggressive

treatment was the prudent route. By that they explained injection over tablet.

He has had his dosage reduced recently from 8 ml to 6 ml. we do not return

to CHOP until DEC at which time we expect that it will be reduced again if he

has no recurring symptons. we believe they will slowly reduce it over long

periods of time from what we see. They do not freely discuss recurrance or

remission. We have stopped asking questions that require definitive answers

and just go with the flow.

M. J. O'Connor

President

Rail Systems, Inc.

22 North Greenwood Ave.

Hopewell, NJ 08525

609-466-4114