methotrexate? what to expect?

[Anonymous]

Looks like I am in the unfortunate situation that I'm going to have to take methotrexate to treat an ectopic tomorrow. Anyone else take this shot? What should I expect? Ironically, this ectopic is after my first IVF cycle where I already had a laproscopy confirming my tubes were fine. Go figure. oh, well, have to keep looking forward.

[Anonymous]

Had this when I had an ectopic. The worst part was just waiting around at the ER to get the shot and then to get discharged. The shot itself was not at all painful (it was in the butt.) And it is a million times better than being in a situation where you need surgery.

Had to go to my ob/gyn's office either every week or every other week (sorry, it's been a few years and I don't remember) for bloodwork, and they they'd email me and let me know if everything was looking ok.

I was told not to have sex for either 6 weeks or 3 months (again, I can't remember the details) and to not try to get pregnant for 6 months.

I did go on to have a normal and healthy pregnancy 3 years later (we weren't trying in the interim--so the length of time was not due to any complications from the ectopic).

Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP. I had an ectopic 9 months ago. First, it was a PITA to get the methotrexate shot because I was admitted to the MFM floor of the hospital where they typically treat pregnant mothers. No one was experienced with methotrexate, which is technically a cancer drug, and my doctor was calling in prescription from her vacation home, and they had to get someone from another hospital department to come administer the shot. Of course, that took hours which was extremely frustrating, considering I desperately wanted this ordeal to be over and to go home. I expect this experience was totally out of the ordinary, and probably just related to the fact that I was admitted to the incorrect department.

Contrary to one of the PPs, in my experience the shot hurt and I wound up with a giant lump in my butt for a few days.

Also unfortunately, the shot didn't work for me. When my 5 day blood work came back and showed the embryo was still growing, they scheduled me for surgery the following day. Even more unfortunately, the ectopic ruptured a few hours later, so I got to rush back to the hospital for emergency surgery and I lost my tube. Recovery from surgery was pretty painful for at least a week, but the only good news is that because we lost the tube completely we could start TCC right away and we avoided the higher risk of a second ectopic in the damaged tube (often, the ectopic and the surgery damage the tube and can create a higher risk of ectopic in the future). If your doctor wants to wait 5 days, I would request more frequent blood work to try to avoid the problem I had. Another complicating factor in my case is that I got the methotrexate right before the 4th of July weekend, so labs were closed for several days and I couldn't get a blood draw until 5 days later.

Another thing is that I experienced a delayed period of mourning. Because my ectopic was so painful and resulted in 2 stressful hospitalizations and a surgery, I spent the first few weeks only noticing how the experience effected ME. It wasn't until a month or two later that I began to mourn the loss of our baby and our hopes for a pregnancy, but I felt conflicted about expressing these feelings because so much time had passed. Be kind to yourself.

I hope your experience is better than mine was but it is still a crappy situation. I'm very sorry for your loss.