anyone experiencing changes in their sense of smell? Also, Foot

[Guest guest]

I've been taking MTX for about 3 years (dose fluctuating between 15 and 20 mg),

my rheumy added Arava (leflunomide) just over a year ago.

In the last year (I think since taking the Arava as well) I'm having a lot of

problems when I cook certain foods. e.g. when I make a roast dinner, the smell

from the roasting meat (I add an onion and sometimes garlic to the meat) smells

really awful to me and I feel quite nauseous and sick. Then I can't eat the meat

at all and feel unwell during the meal. I also feel the same when I grill salmon

so we don't have that anymore. previously I had no problems and liked it.

Then as well I can't go near a guy at work, he is a smoker (smokes in breaks

away from the workplace) and wears some sort of aftershave which smells awful to

me, I then start coughing and coughing and feel like my chest is being squeezed

(doc said it was bronchial constriction and said I could take Ventolin, but I've

never had asthma and don't want to take any more meds)

anyone else have this?

One more problem, I have a patch a few cm wide on the sole of one foot, every

now and then. especially at the end of the day, it starts itching terribly and

painfully, I feel I can scratch my whole foot off. I've put some steroid cream

on it (a strong one) which helps, then unfortunately it comes back if I don't

apply the cream. I dont think its psoriasis as its pretty smooth.

I've had some really bad insect bites too, they haven't healed up for over 3

weeks. Very painful too.

anyone else experience this? Not sure how you can tell if its due to the meds,

without stopping them. Don't want to go there.

thanks

max

PS I used to get one bad cold every 2 or 3 years, now I'm getting 3 a year. The

last 2 were only coughs (no sore throats, no runny nose) but I've felt sick for

a few weeks each time. This year I had a 2 week break then the cough again.