Mouth Sores HELP ! | Arthritis Information

OK Guys. HELP. I was feeling sooo good but tonight I discovered two mouth sores, one on the side of my mouth that is really raw. I think it is a side effect of MTX. It is really bugging me. How do you get rid of these sores ????? Are you taking folic acid in addition to the MTX? That is supposed to help. There is another med if the folic acid doesn't help. Ummm leukcorvin or something along that line. i'm too sleepy to look it up rught now. A weird home remedy i've heard of is swishing milk of magnesia around in your mouth. there was something more to it as well, but that part i remember. i never had this to deal with or i'd probably have more ideas for you.
hugs, wayney

I'm on 4 mg daily of folic acid to keep those little buggers away...I know how painful and ugly they can be....if you don't have a rx for folic call your rheumy and get one or if you have one see about upping the dose people take up to 5 mg / day of that to counter act side effects like you are experiencing.

ginger

Thanks Ginger, Wayney - I am on one miligram folic acid a day and I take vitamins with folic acid. It really is quite painful. I wonder if they are the same thing as cold sores. I don't get cold sores so I don't know. I had thought about getting an over the counter med for cold sores. I would do the milk of magnesia if you come up with the rest of the recipe Wayney I think the rest of the fix was for thrush as well as mouth sores. Someone had thrush from antibiotics. I think part of the mix was a script numbing agent as well.

hugs, wayney
ps..maybe see about upping your folic acid?

Definitely see about upping your folic acid! I started on 1 mg, got the mouth sores and the doc immediately doubled it. It helped a lot. I'm on max MTX 25 mg, and have only sort of a raw spot in the roof of my mouth for about 24 hours after taking it. Sort of like you burned your mouth on some hot cocoa, you know? Then it's gone.

Regarding cold sores vs. mouth sores (or canker sores), you need to know the difference:

In a nutshell, canker sores are painful ulcers, or open sores, on the inner membranes of the mouth and cheek that can resemble pimples on the tongue. Canker sores are not considered to be contagious and are of uncertain origin. These usually occur inside the mouth, and are the type caused by MTX use.

Cold sores, on the other hand, are small red blisters that generally affect the mouth and facial areas, but usually appear on the lip and outer edge of the mouth. In contrast to canker sores, cold sores are extremely contagious and are most often caused by the Herpes Simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1).

Good luck to you. Call your doc in the morning!

BarbAs for mouth sores and MTX, when I was on it I got disgusting fever blisters ALL AROUND MY MOUTH and I HAD NEVER HAD A FEVER BLISTER S IN MY LIFE!! THEY WERE INCREDIBLY PAINFUL AND DOC ADVISED ME TO COME OFF mtx FOR A TIME AND I USED ABREVA. GOOD LUCK, THESE ARE NOT FUN. PS SHE ALSO INCREASED MY FOLIC ACID TOO.I had one of the worst mouth sores ever on the inside of my lip that absolutely nothing could help--until I finally went off mtx completely for about three weeks--at which point if finally started to heal. I am on 15mg now of mtx, instead of 25mg, and I take 2 folic acid a day. Also, I find that I get a cold sore about every month and a half, but my internist gave me a script for valtrex, which I take each time, and the cold sore clears up in about 2 days, rather than two weeks. Anyone who gets cold sores needs to have the valtrex--it makes a huge difference.
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