It could just be that your RD needs to up your dose.  Sometimes when we start a
new med and the initial glow wears off, symptoms start popping up again.  MTX
doesn't usually have that much of an impact after the first does.  I wonder if
you did like I did.  I got my first remicade infusion Mon after being off of it
a year.  I felt better just knowing it was in my system.

Sarah L

"Friends are those people who know the words to the song in your heart and sing
them back to you when you have forgotten the words."  (unattributed)

I think it's the effects of the mtx going after the disease again.  That's
not a really accurate way of putting it, but that's how I think of it.  It
happens to me the day after I take mine.  That is usually my worst day of the
week.  The second day after is my best.  Hopefully when you get to a higher
dose, it will last you completely from shot to shot and you won't have this
effect any more.  It still definitely wears off for me but we can't up it any
more as long as I'm also on Arava.

Becky,
Many of us took several months before the MTX really started "working".  In
those weeks/months many things can happen. Your disease can flare a bit,
making the smaller dose of MTX not enough to control anything (heck, even at
25mgs, I flared and had pain) You have to give this drug and your body ALOT
of time before you can make a decision. I only wish that my doc had raised
my dose that fast! 3 weeks from 7.5 to 12.5 is fast, from what I've read.

I remember clearly those first few months of getting my disease under
control. All these fine folk here encouraged me to be patient in the first
few months after diagnoses.  It's all about patience and being aware of your
pain and your disease and what you do from day-to-day that can exacerbate
your disease.

Three weeks of MTX is not a cure by any stretch.

I'm jealous that you've felt ANY affect from the therapy (which I doubt that
you did feel better because of the MTX, more likely you had a couple good
days and contributed it to the new drugs in your body). I believe you felt
good, but the chances that it was because of 3 weeks of MTX is highly
doubtful.

I've been on it for 6 years now, at 25mgs, and I still have days where my
feet hurt and my hands are full and achy. I can skip a week of dosage (not
recommended!) and feel the effects of skipping it for 3 or 4 weeks until my
body gets under control again.

give it time.. lots of time. .. I have faith that it will work for you, and
if not, there are plenty of meds to move on to and try.

I started mtx almost 5 weeks ago at 20mgs. I'm still on Enbrel and haven
been for 5 years. I had almost 3 weeks of a monster flare that started the
day after my first dose. I've now had almost 2 weeks basically flare-free
(with the exception of some wierd jaw pain that went away after 3 days. I
asked a similar question. I just figure for me it was a case of still having
continuing flares that I've been dealing with for 6 months which forced me
to start mtx, along with the psooible shock to the system of starting at
such a high dose. Hope it gets better for you.