I am 61. When I was diagnosed over a year ago with LGL I was devastated. I started taking mtx and got up to 7 or 9 mlg. It did not help. I then was referred to a doctor at vanderbilt. That was not helpful, I was taking predisone and mtx and nothing was happening. I started to lose my red blood count and had to have blood transfusions. During this time, I asked about drinking wine with my meals in the evening. I was told that was fine. I kept getting wrse with more and more transfusions. Someone told me about DrBixby at Michigan. He was so helpful. He went strictly by the research. He told me he would keep me on mtx and increase dosage. BUT he said stop the wine. I did what he said and it worked. I got up to 15 mlg before it made a difference. I have now been transfusion free and have been ale to lwer the dosage to 12 mlg. I walk everyday and take my vitamins daily. I feel fine except when I get a sinus infections and it takes longer to heal. If I can help with my journey, please feel free to let me know. I check this site reguarly.

I'm only just now seeing this. what an interesting connection! when my husband was put on MTX they were wary because it can damage your liver and his liver already didn't function optimally. So they obviously didn't want him to drink much alcohol to make his liver worse. He drank some anyways, and his LGL (and RA) were still brought under control very quickly. He stopped taking MTX many months ago. sounds like one of those things doctors have no idea about, so I'm glad you brought it up here, in case someone else has the same experience :)

I stopped drinking alcohol (beer and wine) and coffee since I was diagnosed LGL last year although my doctor never asked me to.

Whoever said that drinking while on methotrexate is, quite frankly, dead wrong... and it could make you just plain dead for the same reasons ddixon posted above. While you take MTX, your liver will act like you're an alcoholic and your liver enzymes will skyrocket. When you drink, the problem is compounded. Like you, I was originally told that some alcohol consumption was okay with MTX, but each time I had a glass of wine or a beer my RA would flare up and my joints would feel like they were on fire. I stopped drinking, since the whole point of the MTX was to control my cell counts and my RA. I only have a drink now on special occasions, and I always regret it the next day.