Food supplements and methotrexate

Cadavan

Good morning, for some time I have been taking fish oil, evening primrose oil and turmeric capsules as food supplements. I have now been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and about to start taking methotrexate. Is it advisable to continue with the food supplements or not? Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you.

[Deleted User]

Hello and welcome Cadavan to Versus Arthritis Community Forum

I'm not one of the Helpline Team, I'm one of the Moderating Team, unfortunately, we have had problems today with the forum site.

Please to meet you, I'm so sorry to hear you are having problems with RA, many people do try the variations of alternative supplements.

I've found this link to methotrexate which may be of help to you:-
https://www.versusarthritis.org/search?query=Methotrexate

We have quite a lot of forum users who have RA also, who will follow on to offer some good sound help, advice and support.

Enjoy the forum.

John

helpline_team

Good morning Cadavan

Thanks for posting and thanks to John for providing the link to methotrexate information. The forum seems to be working properly now.

This is a good question. We have some information about the safety and effectiveness of food supplements and complementary medicines for RA that might be helpful. There isn’t much information about any interactions between these supplements and methotrexate.

We can't advise on whether or not you should continue with the food supplements. We would suggest you check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist that the supplements are safe to take with methotrexate and any other medication taken.

You may find these links helpful:
https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/
(complementary treatments are under managing your symptoms, diet and nutrition is under living with rheumatoid arthritis).
https://www.nras.org.uk/methotrexate-in-rheumatoid-arthritis
https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/rheumatoid_arthritis.pdf

Best wishes
Mags
Helpline advisor

stickywicket

Hi cadavan.

I'm not a member of the Helpline team just an ordinary forum member. The best people to ask about interactions (and it's a very good thing to ask about) are pharmacists at your local chemist's.

Meanwhile, I did a search on www.drugs.com which is a reliable site. All seem OK with methotrexate but Evening Primrose Oil can interact with a lot of medication especially some painkillers so do check with the pharmacist about that.

I hope methotrexate works as well for you as it does for me