I have been on Methotrexate for six months and been sick 5 times, 3 upper respiratory, 2 UTIs (I have never had UTI otherwise), 3 times on antibiotics and now might have pneumonia (awaiting chest x-ray results). It's going to be a long winter. The doctor says my body will adjust but this is getting old... Was told cranberry juice twice a day for acidity, add vitamin C. Anything else I am missing?
Make sure you drink a lot of water it may help with UTI, Also,MTX is harsh on your liver is another reason for more water. Keep yourself clean (don’t scratch). Upper respiratory infections (chronic) is not your everyday side effect of MTX. I would talk to your doctor.
I get sick less now that I am on mtx and Remicade than I did before. I think it is because I was afraid of getting sick while immune suppressed so I wash my hands all the time, keep my hands away from my face and eyes, have hand sanatizer in both cars, my purse and next to my chair (I am not sure why on that one but there you are!). I wipe the hand rails on the carts in stores with an anticeptic wipe and use them on remotes, the toilet flusher and the phone. It may seem like over kill but it is working. I also try to drink cranberry juice or OJ every day. I found I got UTIs from the bath tub if I took a bath. Now I wash the tub and use nothing in the water of the bath. It seems to help. Good luck with all the ideas on here, something will work for you.
Ouch! So sorry to hear all your woes. I used to get UTI's a LOT. I keep piridium pills on hand (iodine) because UTI's always strike at terrible times when you can't get hold of your doctor or go the the pharmacy. Cranberry is a good idea but beware the juices as they have lots of sugar which is another no-no for those prone to UTI's. They now make cranberry extract pills/capsules. Try to limit your caffeine for the same reason--it's an irritant. In England I used to drink Robinson's Barley Water. it was the PERFECT antidote to a UTI (in addition to medicine). Seems to calm the system down to no end. Never found anything like it here in the US. I did find the antibiotics were hard on the girl parts which would often lead to a mild yeast infection which...yes, UTI. So if you think you're on one of those merry-go-rounds which might also include a yeast infection you might also think about taking diflucan to get that balanced out. Good luck getting to feeling better. If you're around family for the holidays you might keep them all at arm's length!