Folic Acid Again!
Posted , 7 users are following.
When I saw my GP for repeat prescription he was surprised my (London) consultant only prescribed 5mg folic acid once a week and said that in Devon the normal practice is six times a week. I questioned whether that was 5 mg or 1mg but he insisted it was 5 and the pharmacist concurred.
As I had terrible nausea, vomiting and painful indigestion this week on my 4th dose of mtx I rang the specialist nurse at Guys who told me to take the folic acid for three days before the next mtx dose.
So I'm still not clear why we are not all told to take folic acid 6 days a week. I presume you can't overdose on it because the body excretes excess?
0 likes, 12 replies
mrsmop Dinah54
Posted
My Consultant told me to take the Folic acid at the same time as the MTX, after I had an adverse reaction to the MTX. He told me to take it once a week but, when I had an infection, he told me to take it 6 days a week. But, if I ever mentioned that he had told me to take MTX and folic acid together, nurses and Pharmacists told me he was wrong.
I trust my Consultant, so do as he says and if I have problems, I discuss them with him. Continuity of care etc..
cheria mrsmop
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Lisa_Batts Dinah54
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Everybody seems to be given different information on this. I was on 1 x 5mg per week but suffer bad side effects. When I told my consultant this he upped it to 6 x per week. Every day except MTX. I can definitely say that has helped with mouth ulcers etc. it has to be prescribed folic acid though, not over the counter. For some reason they are different. I would certainly ask if you can up it 😊😊
Dinah54 Lisa_Batts
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Lisa_Batts Dinah54
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chris91257 Dinah54
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mrsmop Dinah54
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I assume everyone has read the following https://patient.info/medicine/methotrexate-maxtrex-metoject
https://patient.info/health/folic-acid-deficiency-anaemia
cheria Dinah54
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Yejyde Dinah54
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Long and short is I feel I'm bring experimented on with all these different contradicting prescription.
I stopped taking the folic acid over a year ago because each time I raise it with both consultants and Gp, I get different opinions.
I'm just generally on MTX injection, get low blood count once in a while but they reduce my dose when this happens and then back up when my blood result comes back satisfactory.
My mouth ulcers have reduced since switching my toothpaste to Sensodyne (weird but true as I've experimented on Colgate) and even when I break out (just one as to my usual 4-5), it's not as painful.
I think we all have to be observant and monitor ourselves and maybe report this to the doctors to help them as well. Thanks for sharing Dinah and everyone for your experiences. It's helped me a lot in some things that I have never associated with the drug
cheria Yejyde
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johnfs49 Dinah54
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I have been on MTX since May 2002, 20mgs MTX and 5 mgs Folic Acid on th other 6 days.
I have posted replies to other posts on MTX and i am one of those that have had NO side effects in all that time.
Had my 3 monthly check up last Friday and all my bloods are good. Have the MTX blood record book whish they complete each check up and can see any variations.
After reading some these posts i did think that the Folic Acid every day but MTX day was working.
My consultant said right from the start that it was important to take the Folic Acid.
brenda05405 Dinah54
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