I thought a few might find this interesting. I went to see new RD
today. He's with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and was pretty
nice. Here was what I thought might be interesting for
everyone. One of the
recommendations he made was to start leucovorin instead of folic acid
with MTX. Someone else had mentioned this before to me as a
better prevention for hair loss than folic acid, buy my previous RD
didn't think the MTX dosage was enough to warrant worrying about hair
loss. This RD said the
study was recent, and I've searched around with mixed results. He said
the study shows that a folinic acid did not impede the efficency of MTX
the way that folic acid does. What I found, recently, was http://folicacid.researchtoday.net/cgi-bin/researchtoday.cgi ?TopicName=Folic%20Acid&AbstractID=8 , which is more about effectiveness of folic versus non-folic acid use.
In any case, might be worth questioning for those taking MTX & folic acid.
And,
as long as we're on the visit, I will be starting plaquenil
again. I've taken both MTX and plaquenil before individually, but
this RD says in combination, they are more effective
than either one alone. So this, along with the Enbrel, and
hopefully things will finally get turned around.
God speed.
I was on plaquenil and MTX together too.
It didn't help me - but we're all different. I hope it helps you!!!
Be sure to get your eyes checked before you go on plaquenil. my doctor "forgot" to mention that to me.
I hope it works for you!
woobieHi-glad to get the info on the mtx
and folic acid. I am currently taking both.
Also, good to hear you will be trying the new combo
of drugs. may be just this thing for you!
Tara
Good afternoon irishii,
I love you name...I have a moniker by the name of irishoma.
I took both together as well as Azulfidine and to be truthful, I am not sure that the combination worked for me . But I sure hope it works well with you...Just goes to show you that we all are so different when it comes to what therapies work the best for us. I was put on Luecovorin about 9 months after I started the MTX, I wish I had been put on it sooner. What a difference it made in my life.
I just read a study about MTX and added drugs. If I remember correctly, by adding more drugs to the MTX the MTX worked better than using it alone but they can not determine as of 2004 if the earlier the drugs are added have more of a beneficial outcome... I will look for more information on that. Let me know if you want a link to that study. I will try to located it in my RA info file, for you.
Also, my RA Doctor is thinking about adding Plaquenil to my Enbrel to see if it will give a boost to the Enbrel.
I have my fingers crossed for you and myself that this will be what is needed to give us a better out come with the RA.
Hope you have a nice weekend.
Toni