M is for Methotrexate 💊 Traditional Cache

#13 Drug Alphabet Series

This series combines two of my favourite "hobbies" - drugs and geocaching. It will inform you about some drugs ie. medicines that you may come across in your lifetime, treating a wide range of medical conditions; and also take you to some interesting places on the Sunshine Coast that you may not have been to before.

Methotrexate (C₂₀H₂₂N₈O₅) is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and as chemotherapy for numerous cancers such as breast, bladder, lymphoma, leukaemia and brain tumours. It is a folic acid antagonist and inhibits DNA synthesis and cell replication with cytotoxic, immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory actions. Common side effects include: anaemia, neutropenia, nausea, vomiting, liver toxicity, lung toxicity, rash, itch and photosensitivity. Oral dosing is once a week only, on the same day each week, and must not to be confused with daily dosing. Although originally designed as a chemotherapy drug in high doses, low doses were found to be effective for a range of autoimmune diseases as disease modifying treatment. Methotrexate is now first-line therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. Methotrexate is teratogenic (harmful to a foetus) and must not be used in pregnancy, as it is an abortifacient (will terminate a pregnancy). Clinical use of Methotrexate  began in the 1950s to treat leukaemia, following research into folic acid analogues, prompted by the discovery that administration of folic acid worsened the cancer; and subsequent synthesis of the drug by Indian biochemist Yellapragada Subbarow.

The cache is a bright little sistema hidden in Floydia Bushland Reserve along Petrie Creek, west of Woombye. The reserve is named after a threatened macadamia species, Floydia praealta growing here. The forest reconnects bushland retained as wind breaks by previous land owners as part of good farming practice.

FTF prize is a "happy pill" with a message inside. Please do not swallow!