I have been taking 5mg of Folic acid but only once a ... - NRAS
I have been taking 5mg of Folic acid but only once a week, as advised,2 days after MTX injection. It seems most people take 5mg daily.
It does seem that it depends on the opinion of the Rheumy & there is no hard & fast rule. There's the camp who are of the opinion taking too much depletes the efficacy of MTX & those who advocate that the comfort of the patient is of greater importance than losing a little of the dose. The only thing they all agree on is to avoid taking it on the day of taking MTX. I was abroad when I started on tablets & I only took 1 the day after. That was changed to the day before & the day after when the side effects started to get on top of me & continued on 2 when changed to injections. When I moved back to the UK my Rheumy started me straight away on 6 weekly, so it's even different in other countries. Also, some advocate only 1 or 2mg daily or 1 5mg weekly, so we're not alone in differences of opinion in the UK. What I can say for certain is that I cope with the side effects so much better taking 6 a week.
If you're struggling & feel you'd benefit from an increase it wouldn't harm to ask your Rheumy.
Not sure that most people take more than 5mg a week, as the posts on here aren't completely representative. I'm back down to once a week - partly because my rheumy is in the camp NMH talks about (above) so thinks that you shouldn't take more than needed as want to make the MTX work as efficiently as it can. But also because I don't like taking more pills than I have to. I did have to go up for a while to counter side effects, but when that stopped working I was switched to injections and have been able to come back down again. And feel exactly the same on one a week as I did when I was taking 6.
But as NMH says, talk to your rheumy if you're worried.
I was in the once a week camp for the 9 years I was on MTX tablets with 5mg of folic acid two days after. I was fortunate and got on fine with MTX from day one. Felt a bit tired on times, but no nausea or other noticeable side effects. .
I take it for 4 days following MTX that seems to help me with the nausea
My Gp had misread the script and I got 5 mg once a week, I was struggling and then got it changed to what the rheumatologist had wanted me to have, 6 days a week folic acid, and it helped make the side effects of MTX much less troublesome. Really variable how rheumatologists approach this. If you have a lot of problems you can always discuss with your rheumatology team.
I'm the same as you. Take Mtx 15mg weekly then 5mg Folic acid two days later. I've been blessed no side effects to any medication so far and have been on it since February. The RA is under control but I know it's there lurking in the background.
Like you I take once a week. The day after methotrexate.
Thank you all for your replies. I am due to seethe rheumatologist in July so I will query it.
