arava experiences?

Hello, and welcome to the forum. I can't help you with the arava as I haven't taken it. I am sorry you are unable to tolerate plaquenil and mtx as they have really helped me.
As to flu shots that is up to you and your doc-I have been told no-I should not do anything that turns up my immune system others are told yes.
Take a good calcium supplement at least while you are on the prednisone as that stuff leaches calcium from your bones. You may find that omega 3 supplements-or raw nuts-help with the inflamation.

As for RA in general-good aggressive early treatment is essential. You will need to pay careful attention to the things that cause you to get worse-for me they include, any type of stress, not sleeping enough, and any type of viral or bacterial infection. Those things are gaurentees that I will end up with swollen painful joints-other people have other triggers.

Other people will be along over the next day or so to welcome you and to provide their advice and experience. There will be people who have taken arava and can tell you what they think of it.
Sj

Hi Dianne, does arava cause your bp to rise? I ask b/c I'm dealing with that right now. It's been slowly rising since the beginning of the year as well as my liver enzymes. I've been on arava for about a year and a half. I was having some problems after a few months and have cut back to a 1/2 of a minimum dose (1 10mg pill), it cut back the side-effects and still helps. But, now I'm dealing with BP issues. I lookes up to see if it is known to cause BP issues, and didn't find info on that.

Retrn - what type of side effects do you have? I have issues with my stomach, but it goes away once I'm on it regularly. Every time I stop it and start up again, I have to readjust to it. I was having trouble with some muscles, allergies, etc. Cutting back to the minimum amt possible, did help. Like I said above, I'm having some new issues and am wondering if Arava could be contributing to it. I'm sorry plaquenil doesn't work for you - i love that med, I take it with the Arava.

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I have. I"m seeing a cardiologits, the rhuemy wasn't sure if Arava would affect the BP, but I do get my liver checked regularly and the enzymes are up. I think I need to jsut stop it if it has anything to do with my breathing problems that have started as well, my BP, or the liver....<sigh>...I hate to start having joint pain again, hopefully the plaquenil will work on its own, but I just can't continue on the way I have been feeling the last month.

The plaquenil works great, but it's very subtle....you'll slowly start to feel better then suddenly 5-6 months after starting it, you realize you feel MUCH better and wonder if you're in remission. It gives me gas as well when I stop and restart it as well.  I took it alone for a long time, then starting having more and more flares....so we added the Arava and slowly but surely the flares subsided.

Hi all, enjoy all the dialogue about arava-so when first started a fast heart rate but it settled down or just raised slightly and BP about an hour and a half after taking and then subsided on it own. Advanced to 20mg and on day 4 of that noticed I became short of breath-have history of asthma and other RA meds have done the same. Now debating whether to take next dose tomorrow? Hate to have to count another drug out so soon. Too soon to tell if RA pain improving. I also had a couple of bouts of severe acid indigestion but took some antacids and cut out diet coke which I had everyday and seem to be better.

That's a big fact - everyone reacts to each med differently, what works great for some, doesn't do a darn thing for others. You just have to "try and see" with them...and some, like plaquenil ARE subtle and do take a while to kick in.

I found a list of my recent problems on a web site as side effects of Arava, including the high BP. Considering I've already been hospitalized from bad reactions to 2 other meds (methotrexate and Remicade), I'm guessing there is a VERY good chance Arava is the culprit. I've decided to stop immediately, I just can't afford to chance yet another drug I think might be causing me problems. I have 2 young children. I called and left a message for my *new* rheumy...found out he's a guy I used to see and he's the worst when it comes to not believing ANY drug gives side-effects. Bummer. He urged me to stick with Remicade, so I did, and finally after 5 months of pneumonia, flares coming after the infusion instead of getting better, and another job lost due to health, I stopped taking it. The question is, should I demand I get that powder that helps get Arava out of your system quickly? Will that help me get better quicker or has the damage already been done? By getting it out of my system quickly, will that cause me to flare really bad soon after?

Retrn - I only take 1 10mg pill of Arava for the same reasons...20mg was too much for me...but I'm hypersensitive...I take children's cold medicine often instead of the adult dose.

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When I stopped arava, my symptoms disappeared within a week even though I didn't take anything to help get it out of my system. I also seem to be particularly sensitive to these nasty rheumy drugs, my specialist has reduced dosages to much smaller amounts which seem to help with the side effects. Hey Ca mama interested to hear you too had pneumonia, was it the remicade? They're not sure with me if its humira or just reduced immunity. I'm hoping its reduced immunity because I don't want to give up humira. Its the best treatment I've had so far. Have you had any long lasting problems from having had pneumonia?