Becky: mixing up MTX and folic acid

[Guest guest]

The same nearly happened to me! I have now labeled the lid of each and make sure

I have my reading glasses on! I also sometimes take 15 mg MTX (1.5 10 mg

tablets) and sometimes 20 mg (2 x 10 mg). So I have some of the 10 mg tablets

which I have halved, put them in a labeled old MTX bottle, then put an elastic

band around the 2 bottles, this helps differentiate them too.

 

BTW, my rheumy said to take 5 mg 2 and 3 days after the MTX. I notice that a lot

of people take 1 mg 6 days a week. I asked my second rheumy what he thought was

best, he said you could have a whole room full of rheumys and they would all say

something different.

 

I did find a research paper called:

 

Folate supplementation and MTX treatment in rheumatoid arthritis: a review

 

Authors Whittle S L and R A

 

Rheumatology 2004, volume 43, 267-271.

 

It was free off the internet.

 

Brief findings: Supplemental folic acid in RA patients treated with MTX improves

continuation rates by reducing the incidence of liver function test

abnormalities and gastrointestinal intolerance. Folic acid does not

significantly reduce the effectiveness of MTX in treatment of RA. Folic acid

recommended at 5 mg oral folic acid given on the morning following the day of

MTX administration.

 

regards

max