I have received contradicting information regarding MTX's effect on ferility from 2 rheumatologists:
One claims that if I take it my fetility will be affected forever more, even if I eventually stop taking it to conceive.
The other rheumy claims it won't affect fertility indefinity, only while taking it and up to half a year after stopping it.
Anybody here have more accurate information or personal experience on the topic?
Thanks!
I would talk with OBGYN regarding medications and fertility, pregnancy questions.
Here is an article monitoring fertility which followed Juvenile Adolescents (males and females) taking long term medication(s).
"Methotrexate can cause reversible sterility in men, as documented in individual case reports. The reported patients were often receiving other chemotherapeutic drugs as well.53- 55 Men and women should discontinue methotrexate treatment at least 3 months before conception because of its prolonged retention in the tissues." http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1729684
Do not use methotrexate if you are pregnant or breast-feeding a baby.
Use birth control to prevent pregnancy while you are using methotrexate, whether you are a man or a woman. Methotrexate use by either parent may cause birth defects.
If you are a man, use a condom to keep from causing a pregnancy while you are using methotrexate. Continue using condoms for at least 90 days after your treatment ends.
*Methotrexate is a type of medicine that stops cells from dividing. It can be used as a way (other than surgery) to treat a pregnancy that's implanted outside the uterus (ectopic pregnancy). It's given by injection, and usually just 1 dose is given. https://www.drugs.com/methotrexate.html
Personally I would not look at MTX as a option while at the point in life of considering pregnancy.
The starting and stopping of a protocol is physically and emotionally draining.
If the med helps, to stop and have symptoms resume is devastating.
Your breasts produce colostrum beginning during pregnancy and continuing through the early days of breastfeeding. This special milk is yellow to orange in color and thick and sticky. It is low in fat, and high in carbohydrates, protein, and antibodies to help keep your baby healthy.
Some women flare after childbirth.. so foregoing (perhaps after colostrum)nursing and then starting a med such as MTX would be safe option at that time on both levels.
Thank you quietdynamics,
I agree with all you've written.