Arava

November 30, 2005

In a message dated 11/30/2005 6:54:34 PM Eastern Standard Time,

suzy11@... writes:

> Seriously does anyone else have the problem with

> their meds that makes them lose weight??

>

ok ..i need that med .. wow a med that won't make me retain water!!

December 2, 2005

hi suzy, ya me too, I am still loosing weight, ive been loosing weight since i

was on methrotrexate, Since ive been on the arava its the same with the

nausua,weightloss for me that werent bad cause a yr. ago i was 160 im now

128lbs. but the nausua drives me crazy,im hungry i eat but them im on the

toilet, do pretzels ever help your nausua they do mine, i go to rheumy today

hope its good news, ive been extremely tired though.good luck to you!

Suzy <suzy11@...> wrote: Hi! I too am on Arava. Have been taking 20 mg

for the past 6 months. It

has seemed to help a lot - the only problem I am encountering is weight loss

I am always semi-nauseated and find it so hard to eat very much. I used

to weight 110 and now am down to 91. I look in the mirror and wonder who

that anrexic woman is !!!! Seriously does anyone else have the problem with

their meds that makes them lose weight??

Suzy inNashville

-- [ ] ARAVA

Happy Holidays to all!!!

I am new to the group and was wondering if anyone is

on arava,for their ra, im on arava,plaquenil,volteren,and davocets for

flares, ive been on arava for about a month 2wks of nausua, but joint

pain much,much better, now not only do i keep getting cysts now my

right finger ring at the bottomclose to the nail has been waking me up

in the middle of night, its swollen shiny,red,now it looks like the

skins gonna peel,just wondering if anyone has ever had any issues with

these skin problems,Im wondering if it could be gout! any

ideas,thanks,positivelyanxios

March 30, 2006

My daughter has been taking Arava and now she has pancreatitis which

they think came from Arava. The pain of this is greater than the pain of

her arthritis and she cannot enjoy food right now. Just wonder if anyone

else had this side effect.

Carol.....Esther's Mom

Sue wrote:

> I didn't have any side effects like that when I was on Arava. But

> taking it before bedtime might help to alleviate that feeling.

>

> Sue

>

> On Wednesday, March 29, 2006, at 09:29 AM, kringlemom@... wrote:

>

> > ok, so i took it last night and did not like the way my head felt. i

> > was

> > wondering if anyone else experienced this, maybe if i take it before

> > bed? any

> > ideas??

>

March 31, 2006

Carol, so sorry to hear that about Esther.

The only case of pancreatitis I can think of is Lynn's. I don't think Arava

was involved.

Did Esther have to be hospitalized?

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Re: [ ] arava

> My daughter has been taking Arava and now she has pancreatitis which

> they think came from Arava. The pain of this is greater than the pain of

> her arthritis and she cannot enjoy food right now. Just wonder if anyone

> else had this side effect.

>

> Carol.....Esther's Mom

March 31, 2006

I'm so sorry Esther is suffering with this. Although pancreatitis is

a listed side

effect of Arava, I don't know of anyone here that has had this happen

as a

result of Arava.

Do her doctors expect it will be reversible upon discontinuation of

Arava?

a

On Mar 31, 2006, at 2:16 AM, Esther Finlaw wrote:

> My daughter has been taking Arava and now she has pancreatitis which

> they think came from Arava. The pain of this is greater than the

> pain of

> her arthritis and she cannot enjoy food right now. Just wonder if

> anyone

> else had this side effect.

>

> Carol.....Esther's Mom

April 4, 2006

Carol, has Esther's rheumatologist mentioned the possibility of trying

tocilizumab (also referred to as MRA)? It interferes with the activity of

interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is thought to play a large role in juvenile and

adult-onset Still's. It's currently in trials in the US.

http://www.expertopin.com/doi/abs/10.1517/14712598.5.5.683

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109934013

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=15987476

http://journals.humanapress.com/index.php?option=com_opbookdetails & task=articled\

etails & category=humanajournals & article_code=CRIAI:28:3:231

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Re: [ ] arava

> Hi a, , June and all who responded. I think of you all so often.

>

> Esther has a mild case of pancreatitis... so they say.... but she says

> the pain is great. She is scheduled to have a colonscopy and at same

> time they are going to scope and see if she has any ulcers. She has been

> on so much medication since the age of eight....now she is 36. I am

> hoping this is a side effect of the Arava because if so, the Gastro

> doctor said once it is out of her body....(.could take up to 6 weeks),

> then her symptoms will go away. He too said that Lupus patients

> develope pancreatitis also. She still has to have another blood test

> for the Lupus. Her Rhuemmy has her on this

> powder....Cholestyramine...mixed with water 3 times a day. He said this

> will get the Arava out faster. ?????

>

> Actually of all the medications she has ever taken only prednisone worked.

> Also, aspirin....which has a bad rap. She was on aspirin when her

> Still's Disease first started and it worked great until she had a major

> flare around the age of nine. After that, she has never been put back on

> it....but I think it worked a lot better than these others.

>

> She was on Kineret for about 8 months. She kept getting bladder

> infections and then finally last Nov. she had both a urine and a blood

> infection. Was in hospital for 3 weeks with that.....came home on IV

> antibiodics and then in Dec. developed a totally different bacteria

> urine and blood infection. was back in for another week. I told her

> Rheummy that I thought Kineret was the blame. Then he started her on

> this Arava. He had also tried methotrexdate (spg.??) and that made her

> blood go wacky. I really don't think she can take these stronger

> arthritis drugs.

>

> Didn't mean to write a book, LOL

> Gentle hugs to all of you,

> Carol aka Esther's Mom

April 4, 2006

Thanks for the info! I will print this out and show her Rheummy. We

see him every 6 weeks and he calls us often.....says he has memorized

our phone # and home address LOL. Last time he called he was wondering

what drug to try next. He mentioned Gold Shots but I told him when she

was a child they had told us she was not a candidate for that.....wish I

had kept a journal back then. I can't remember the reason why. With the

computer today it is easy to keep up a journal. Funny, you think you

will remember things but you actually forget. He also told us that Gold

Shots has it's own set of effects.

How have you been? Your children must be almost grown now .

Gentle hugs,

Carol aka/Esther's Mom

wrote:

> Carol, has Esther's rheumatologist mentioned the possibility of trying

> tocilizumab (also referred to as MRA)? It interferes with the activity of

> interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is thought to play a large role in

> juvenile and

> adult-onset Still's. It's currently in trials in the US.

>

> http://www.expertopin.com/doi/abs/10.1517/14712598.5.5.683

>

> http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/109934013

>

> http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=15987476

>

<http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=15987476>

>

http://journals.humanapress.com/index.php?option=com_opbookdetails & task=articled\

etails & category=humanajournals & article_code=CRIAI:28:3:231

>

<http://journals.humanapress.com/index.php?option=com_opbookdetails & task=article\

details & category=humanajournals & article_code=CRIAI:28:3:231>

>

> Not an MD

>

> I'll tell you where to go!

>

> Mayo Clinic in Rochester

> http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

>

> s Hopkins Medicine

> http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

>

> Re: [ ] arava

>

> > Hi a, , June and all who responded. I think of you all so often.

> >

> > Esther has a mild case of pancreatitis... so they say.... but she says

> > the pain is great. She is scheduled to have a colonscopy and at same

> > time they are going to scope and see if she has any ulcers. She has been

> > on so much medication since the age of eight....now she is 36. I am

> > hoping this is a side effect of the Arava because if so, the Gastro

> > doctor said once it is out of her body....(.could take up to 6 weeks),

> > then her symptoms will go away. He too said that Lupus patients

> > develope pancreatitis also. She still has to have another blood test

> > for the Lupus. Her Rhuemmy has her on this

> > powder....Cholestyramine...mixed with water 3 times a day. He said this

> > will get the Arava out faster. ?????

> >

> > Actually of all the medications she has ever taken only prednisone

> worked.

> > Also, aspirin....which has a bad rap. She was on aspirin when her

> > Still's Disease first started and it worked great until she had a major

> > flare around the age of nine. After that, she has never been put back on

> > it....but I think it worked a lot better than these others.

> >

> > She was on Kineret for about 8 months. She kept getting bladder

> > infections and then finally last Nov. she had both a urine and a blood

> > infection. Was in hospital for 3 weeks with that.....came home on IV

> > antibiodics and then in Dec. developed a totally different bacteria

> > urine and blood infection. was back in for another week. I told her

> > Rheummy that I thought Kineret was the blame. Then he started her on

> > this Arava. He had also tried methotrexdate (spg.??) and that made her

> > blood go wacky. I really don't think she can take these stronger

> > arthritis drugs.

> >

> > Didn't mean to write a book, LOL

> > Gentle hugs to all of you,

> > Carol aka Esther's Mom

>

April 4, 2006

Hi Lynn hope you are feeling well today. Yes, I figure this must be

painful for her as she has grown up living with pain and usually does

not complain. I am hoping that it is the Arava that caused it and once

it is out of her system this pain will go away. Don't know if you

remember but several years ago she was diagnoised with an eating

disorder after she had taken dieting way too far. At first her Rheummy

thought she was using this pain as an excuse for not eating until he got

the blood results back. I am positive we are completely over this eating

disorder thing because she does love to eat. Is very hungry now....tired

of liquids and is craving Red Lobster's cocconut shrimp.

Did you ever complete your schooling? Hope you are enjoying this

beautiful spring. I am so thankful that we didn't have a harsh winter

this year.....especially with the price of home heating oil. I know you

live in Pa. and we are in NJ so we are practically neighbors .

Gentle hugs,

Carol/ aka Esther's Mom

Ruf-Caimi wrote:

> Carol,

> I am so sorry to read about all the problems Esther is having. I

> have had

> pancreatitis and the pain is terrible. Even if it is a mild case I am

> sure

> she is in awful pain. I know I had many attacks. I hope they can

> find out

> what is wrong and help her. I have had problems with so many of the Ra

> drugs, that it is frustrating. I will be praying for Esther and

> hoping all

> will be well soon.

> Lynn (MeMom)