- Arava

[Guest guest]

, don't worry. Many people have gotten very good results with Arava

without experiencing significant side effects. The major drawback of using

Arava is that it is much newer than MTX and all of the potential side

effects and their likelihood are still unknown. Public Citizen has been

calling for its withdrawal from the market, but the FDA is not moving in

that direction. Just make sure you get your testing done on time and report

anything new to your physician promptly.

Did you and your rheumatologist discuss biologics? Are you sure your

insurance wouldn't cover them now?

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: Digest Number 5329

> I'm supposed to be starting Arava next week. (the mtx, at least by

> itself, is not working) After all I've read about it hear, I have

> some misgivings. It sounds like the potential for problems with

> this one are even worse than with mtx!

>

> As of my appointment Tuesday, I'm back up to 15 mg of prednisone a

> day, plus Tramodol a lot of the time to stay semi-functional. When

> she refilled my Tramodol, it was for 240 pills! (and my ins. only

> covers a 1 month supply of any rx) In a way, it was nice to know I

> don't have to keep calling for refills, in another way, but it was

> also dismaying to realize that she must think I might need that much

> pain med.

>

> Has Arava at least been useful for SOME people here? Or am I just

> doing this to satisfy an insurance co. that I have " failed " the

> requisite number of cheaper drugs to qualify for a biologic? It

> sounds like this one can take a long time to become effective too,

> and then that it takes FOREVER to leave your system if you need to

> go off of it.

>

> The plan at this point is for me to step the Mtx down to 10 mg per

> week, and add the Arava, first at 10 mg per day, and then if I

> tolerate the side effects OK, up to 20 mg per day after 2 weeks.

> She doesn't want to start with a loading dose (as I guess is often

> done) because my stomach doesn't seem to be tolerating a lot of

> these meds well. So I guess that means it may take longer to see

> any positive effect from the Arava too.

>

> At least on the higher dose of prednisone, I got a decent night's

> sleep last night, and was able to get out of bed this morning. But

> even that made me feel a litle guilty, because I also know what the

> pred will do to me if we can't find another solution before too long.

>

> Because I'm up on a higher dose of pred. again, (and have been

> pretty much since mid-Jan) the doc started me on Actonel to help

> prevent bone loss due to the prednisone. Oh joy, another yucky

> med. THAT one made me mildly sick to my stomach all day, and then

> gave me gripes and diarrhea all night. So now I can't decide...

> Should I take that on the same day as my mtx, and be DOUBLY sick for

> 2 days, or should I take it on a different day, and be LESS sick,

> but for more days of the week?

>

> Also, because my hips have been getting worse and worse, I had to go

> for a bunch of x-rays yesterday, and then schedule an MRI... I guess

> there is a possiblility that the prednisone can cause necrosis in

> the hip joints (and other large joints) and she wants to rule that

> out as the cause of my increased pain. I don't know WHAT they do if

> they find out that's what is happening... I can't imagine how I'd

> function without the pred at this point!

>

> Gosh, this is fun! :-/

>

> Thanks for listening to my complaining... I DO want to believe that

> when you find the right meds, things get better, but it's getting

> kind of hard to believe while I'm still in the middle of it.

>

>