Has anyone heard of treating excema with cancer drugs?

[HarmOkne]

My doctor refered me to the hospital for treatment yesterday as my excema is too severe for them to deal with.

He mentioned that the skin specailst would more than likely put me on a cycle of cancer drugs to help treat the symptoms of my excema.

He mentioned a drug that began with the letter M sounded like mex..... but I couldnt quite catch it.

Has anyone heard of anything like this so I can google any side effects etc before my appointment

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The only thin that works to keep it calm is a course of steriod tablets/cream which obv.isnt sastinable.

I am currently in the middle of yet another flare up and cannot go to work as I cannot move my neck left or right so wouldnt be able to drive safely and my job involves driving.
I am at the end of my tether

I did the whole no dairy thing when I was a child with no positive outcome

Was it methotrexate ? It can be used at a much, much lower dose than for cancer treatment to damp down an immune response - often used for rheumatoid arthritis, and the side effects are pretty minimal.

I just had a quick look at the research papers and it looks like its very effective in treating eczema that doesn't respond to other treatments

Thank you, that's what drug he said. I'm off to google to have a look. If you could link to any info on it I'd be very grateful

Thank you, that's what drug he said. I'm off to google to have a look. If you could link to any info on it I'd be very grateful

If you go to Pubmed and type in Methotrexate eczema in the search it will come up with research papers

I had a look at the NICE guidance, and they recommend using Tacrolimus before going to Methotrexate - have you been tried on that ?

My mum has severe eczema, and has found that the dermatologists can make a lot of difference just with a few tweaks of medication - although she only goes about once every 5 years when it all gets totally out of hand

I havent tried Tacrolimus yet, I am still waiting for the appointment with the deratologist.

So glad to hear your mum found they could help her, it gives me hope

Yup, methotrexate is used for a wide-range of conditions, of which certain types of cancer are just one. It will probably be started at low dose, and then increased upwards to get desired response. The most important thing is that it is only taken ONCE A WEEK, not daily, and you will probably have regular blood tests to monitor for side-effects. You should be given some written information about it when it is initiated.

Link to a Patient Information Leaflet for methotrexate tablets here

You need to consider side effects, short as well as long term. Reconsider diet changes and try cutting out wheat.

from wiki