Experiences going off meds after remission?

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Hi folks,

New to the list, and I have a question. Here's the background: after two years

of docs thinking I might have reactive arthritis or undifferentiated SA, the

rheumatologist settled on a diagnosis of seronegative RA. After a few months of

messing around with plaquinil (useless) and multiple short courses of prednisone

(only helped while I was actually taking it), six months ago he put me on

methotrexate and Enbrel. That worked like a charm - for the last three months

I've had no symptoms at all - no stiffness, no swollen joints, no fatigue -

everything went away like a bad dream.

I'm wondering if anyone out can tell me about there experience in tapering off

their meds after a remission? Don't worry, I won't do this unless my rheumy

agrees, I'm just wondering if someone who's tried it can tell me what luck they

had? If you relapsed, how quickly/badly? Any trouble in going back on the meds

and getting back into remission? Any noticable joint damage result from trying

to go off the meds? That's the one thing I worry about - already at this point,

my left wrist will never be quite the same. Much as I'd like to get off the

MTX/Enbrel, I really don't want to accumulate any more damage.

Thanks for any feedback - rr