Re: UPdate & New RA and starting Arava..comments on the med welcome

[Guest guest]

Dear Cookie- I would ask your new doctor about cyclosporine. When I got RA it was the first drug that made me flare free and worked for several years before losing efficacy. It is a TNF binding agent which Enbrel is, and an anti malarial like plaquenil. It is usually used in conjuction and most effective with Methyltrexate. MTX keeps the RA cells from dividing and multiplying. I have used Arava. It works directly through the stomach and intestines. It was too strong for me to use. Can you use prednisone?. Did he suggest that at all? Cyclosporine is an old drug and largely used for organ transplant rejection but was used heavily for RA before the expensive biologics. Usually the pills come 25mg to 100mg. I used to take 100mg twice a day and it did the trick. I used it in conjunction with plaquenil and low dose prednisone. I was using mtx alone and still flared badly. Cyclosporine really helped and though its an outdated drug by todays standards it does work!!!! Hugs, Deborah

On 4/14/07, pr_jem <pr_jem@...> wrote:

Hi All,Well I went to the new Rheumy. There was a good connection and I left feeling good(unlike the other one i tried). He was on the RA foundation referal list - Dr. McKnight. In any vent, he recommended I take ARava in conjuction with the Plaquenil and then whine out the plaquenil. If that does not work we will try both the Arava & Plaquenil.He said that my hlth coverage would not cover me going from Plaquenil to Enbrel. that the enbrel would cost me like $1,500 a month. So he suggested we start with Arava and move up from their accordingly.What I found unusual was the fact that My finger is still swollen and very slightly deformed, yet he did not suggest anything in particular. I have never wanted an injections in my joints, however, the pain got so bad that I would have welcomed the suggestion. He did find my let elbow really swollen I hope this med works. This week I have had my left side go haywire: the side of my left knee is swollen with the bone slightly protruding, and he did not say much about the bone that is slightly protruding above my chest. He did however, say that he did not think that my lungs were as bad as i had assumed. Although, i will continue to have Ct scans done every six months. Any comments on the Arava. Hugs,CookiePS: Thank you both Ardy and Deborah