Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

2,179 Members
16,355 Posts
0 Online
Muscles & Bones
/ Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Leucovorin prescribed to replace folic acid

sharmomnana
sharmomnana
It's me again. This RA is a roller coaster ride. This is my fourth week of oral MTX. I've developed sores on my gums. It's really painful to eat (not the best way to lose weight. LOL). I toughed it out for a few days and finally put a call into the rheumatologist. She wants me to stop taking the 1 mg folic acid and start a medication called Leucovorin. I'm supposed to take it 24 hours after the weekly MTX dose. Has anyone taken this? Does it help with the side effects as well as folic acid? The stomach issues seem to be getting worse with each MTX dose, so I don't want to make that worse. Any suggestions for the mouth sores? The dr just said to use something OTC but I have no idea what. Any suggestions would be appreciated :)

Thanks, in advance!
Shar
depotblue
depotblue
yeah I take both, the leucovorin, and my rheumie has me take it 12 hours after i inject the mtx and i continue to take the folic acid according to her plan 7 days also.

i also have this great crap called "magic mouthwash" that the rheumatologist calls into the pharmacy - it's some kind of concoction the pharmacist makes - i swear the base is something like maalox - but it helps coat the mtx mouth sores and get rid of them faster for me anyway. ask if you can. over the counter? no, those things like abreva et al do not work for me.

can you ask the rheumatologist to switch you off the oral mtx and onto the injectable mtx so you can bypass your guy? the needles are nothing - like water going in. it's not a big deal delivery wise but it helps somewhat - with the stomach stuff.

what's your dose? better to get it all a little smooth out in case you climb up the mtx chain toward 10 you know

depot
depotblue
depotblue
OK that was bypass your GUT not your guy, though if you do want to bypass your guy that's up to you....

depot
stephgas
stephgas
re: stomach upset, i used to keep all natural ginger candy on hand for nausea, it really helped.
sharmomnana
sharmomnana
Depot, you made me laugh with the typo :)

My dose of MTX is 10mg. I'm hoping it doesn't go higher than this. I am going to ask my rheumatologist about injections. I have always had trouble with pills. I don't know why I thought MTX would be any different .

I will have to call her back and confirm that she wants me to stop the folic acid. The nurse seemed certain that she did want me to stop.

Steph, my sweet sister brought me some crystalized ginger. It does help, although I don't chew it because it is strong. Instead I just let it dissolve in my mouth. That is really good for the stomach.
51percent
51percent
I've done leucovorin several times and now keep it on hand should I break out in mouth sores. It shuts down the action of MTX completely instead of it slowly going down after your dose. In my case, I had to take it after only 8 hours but I was doing injections so it acts faster than the pills.

Then my rheumy upped my dose of folic acid to 2 mgs and that's been much better for me...might ask your rheumy about an increase in daily folic acid.

I used warm salt water for my mouth sores but never asked if there was something better. But shots should help with the stomach problems and you may need leucovorin for a while to allow you system to get used to MTX. 10mgs is a low dose.

Good luck...this is a pretty common problem.

hugs.........Jen