Wegetarian, you still might be able to have a beer or two once in awhile, even though you are told not to.... quite a few on here who take MTX have confided that they do indulge in a drink here and there, maybe a couple of times a month. If your docs are checking your liver functions, or levels of whatever is they check in regard to that, and nothing suspicious comes up, you should be OK. Just don't overdo it.

I agree with Michelle that 5mg. is a very small dose of MTX to start with, and probably a sub-therapeutic one. Especially if, as you say, you are a big guy! I would not hesitate to suggest, based on what you've heard on this wonderful forum, that maybe you start with 10 or even 15mg. I am a fairly small woman who is now on MTX after having been on CTX for some time (which you probably don't need). I started at 10mg MTX and did have some side effects, mainly a little nausea and fatigue, but took my weekly dose on a day I didn't have to go anywhere. It wasn't terrible, and I got used to it. I did flare on that low dose and am now taking 15mg./week, which is still on the low side but seems about right for me in my maintenance stage. If I was more acutely ill, I'd think it should be a little higher. I'm down to 10mg pred/day and still on Bactrim DS 3X/wk. I imagine I could start tapering the pred a bit, but I probably had a more severe case than you, and it doesn't bother me much, so I'm in no hurry.

I'm glad you had a fun evening drinking! It's normal for you to be fatigued, but it sounds like you are doing well enough that there will time and energy for more fun times in the near future. I would go ahead and get some hand sanitizer, though, as you can't be too careful about picking up weird bugs out there in the world.