Guest guest Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 , I was one of those people that had NO problems with Arava. It had a good side effect. I lost weight, less appetite and my cholesterol went down. But MTX was horrible and I had ALL the side effects...to the point any good effects were seriously over shadowed by all the bad stuff...so I had to stop it. Enbrel worked great for a while...then I started having problems with it...so no more enbrel. Now I am on plaquinil and it does sometimes upset my stomach if I take it before eating. But otherwise no problems...other than it just is not working. Humira works great for fatigue and pain for all of 4 days....but the burning pain of the injection kinda makes it not worth the little bit of good effects. It really is a crap shoot with these meds...and can be very frustrating. Toni In a message dated 4/20/2006 4:30:02 P.M. Central Daylight Time, writes: From: " " Matsumura_Clan@... Date: Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:48am(PDT) Subject: Re: - Arava , It's true that all drugs have side effects, but, since one can't predict exactly what will happen in a given individual, one has to go with the odds. In general terms, some drugs are more effective than others, some drugs are safer than others, and some drugs have a higher effectiveness to toxicity ratio than others. Public Citizen argues very persuasively that Arava is no more effective than methotrexate, but is more toxic. And, because Arava is fairly new, the full spectrum of side effects related to Arava won't be known for a few years. Trials only tell part of the story. The " real world " provides the best information about side effects. Unfortunately, our reporting system is terrible and voluntary, so it can take years before we fully understand what a drug commonly can do - good or bad. For example, one of our member's cholesterol rose after beginning Arava. Her doctor claimed that Arava CAN'T do that! Other people reported new peripheral neuropathy, but their physicians weren't sure if Arava was the cause. Case reports related to both of these side effects are in the literature. When people here started to use Celebrex, Vioxx, and Bextra, there were many reports of new high blood pressure. Some doctors were skeptical that the COX-2 inhibitors were responsible. Methotrexate has been in use for RA since the 50s. Its side effect profile is very well established. Again, we aren't very good at predicting who will experience what, but we do know what to watch for. I'm still astounded that doctors aren't performing a simple chest x-ray before their patients begin either MTX or Arava, both of which can induce pneumonitis. Physicians should also take care before prescribing these agents to people who smoke or who have other lung disease. A couple of good reasons to move up to Enbrel (or add it to your current MTX) rather than over to Arava would be that Enbrel is likely to be more effective than Arava and less likely to bother your stomach. Too, you may be able to get off of the prednisone earlier. Of course, the insurance/cost issue is a huge factor. The best of luck with the Arava. Skipping the loading dose is a good idea if you've had stomach issues all along. Please let us know how you are doing on it. Not an MD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 > Thanks for the input, Ebony. Stomach cramps and diarrhea are what > put an end to Plaquenil for me. I just had another bout yesterday > with the Actonel she just put me on because of the prednisone. I am > NOT looking forward to another go-round of the same with the Arava. > OTOH, maybe I'll get lucky, and it won't give me that set of side > effects. It just seems that's the way my body is reacting to a lot > of things these days! I didn't have any side effects at all with Arava, although it didn't work for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 So I guess all you can do is keep playing Russian > Roulette until you find something that works without killing you > first.<g> Haha! In a 'this disease is so not funny it's almost funny' way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 > Ambien has a new sleeping pill that is supposed to be time-released. > It's called Ambien CR or something like that. You know, I've tried Ambien (no good) but not the CR, that's a good thing to ask for next time, thx... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Thank you and Dennis for your helpful input. This is a wonderful group of very caring folks. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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