Methotrexate and Hydrating

A couple of days ago I had a very nice and informative chat on Twitter. I chanced upon a tweet of Jody (‏@RheumerHasIt) telling that she is going to hydrate herself before taking methotrexate. Actually the tip comes from Hurt Blogger | Britt (‏@HurtBlogger). Hydrating and salt helps limit nausea and other side effects.

I think that methotrexate is a very valuable drug in rheumatology, but there are people, who develop side effects. Any tip to alleviate side effects and allow people to stay on the drug is muchly warranted. I’ve never had heart about this before, but will pass the tip on to help others to better tolerate methotrexate. Under hospital conditions we often start methotrexate in patients new to the disease. I tell them to keep in mind, that in a hospital for rheumatic diseases they will encounter other patients, who either had side effects or methotrexate (MTX) wasn’t effective, but that these facts doesn’t diminish the great value of the drug, as more patients tolerate it well and reduce disease activity, so they they won’t see these people in hospital.

But back to our chat. Kelly (@rawarrior) advices to take green olives with MTX to decrease nausea. I had the Idea of taking wakame or nori (different sorts of seaweed). And Gina Renée (@GinaRClark) provided a study on sodium alginates by A. Yamamoto (Sodium alginate inhibits methotrexate-induced gastrointestinal mucositis in rats.) I remember the pre-PPI era, even the pre-H2-inhibitor era, when alginates were used. Nowadays these alginate are still in use as over the counter drugs (at least in Germany) to better cope with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

Miso soup with seaweed could be part of a solution to fight nausea and better tolerate methotrexate.

I'll promote this as the American hydrating method to better tolerate MTX.

Thanks everyone for taking part in the chat and contributing.