A couple of times I posted to ask what experiences people had had with methotrexate and got limited responses. Now that I am on it I will report my experience so far. I was unable to taper below 8 mg prednisone after 20 months and my rheumatologist really wanted me to add methotrexate. The prednisone was working well with minimal side effects and my dose did not seem that high but I agreed that lower would be better as the time extends into years. I have been on the methotrexate for a month now, tapering up from 7.5 mg to 12.5, which I will stay on. I have dropped from 8 to 7 on the pred and will go down 1 mg a month. The first week I had severe side effects: nausea, headaches, a mouth sore, some hair loss. The next week was better even on a higher dose and now I just have mild nausea most of the time. I have essentially no PMR sx's. I have fatigue, but not as much as before I started the new drug. Except for the nausea I feel better. Does anyone have suggestions about how to take the methotrexate to reduce stomach problems? I take the whole dose weekly with breakfast. I'm wondering about splitting the dose or taking it either before or after a meal.