Would like to help if I can.

I have visited this site over the last several months and have grown to feel a bond with many of you.
I was diagnosed with gout after to many painful attacks affecting a variety of joints.

Countless prescriptions of Prednisone, Collcrysisne, and other steroids were only very short term answers.

It came to head after 6 months or so when my right hand became so sore and swollen I had to go in for surgery.
Only after the surgery another specialist and several more blood tests I was told that I was being treated all this time for the wrong illness.

It wasnt gout after all, at least they deemed it wasnt the main culprit.
I was diagnosed with R.A. I was baffled.All this time and energy fighting something I really was not equipped to go up against.How could they have gotten my diagnosis so wrong I thought.

Now I figured this would, after the proper meds and knowing for sure what I was up against,be a battle I could win.

It couldnt be as bad as what I had been through prior. Boy it was.

I was then prescribed three medications.
1]Sulfasalazin
2]Hydrooxychlor
3]Naproxen

After taking these each twice a day I began to feel better.But I was tired.
This was the way it went for about a month.My attacks were going away and I would get home from work and go to bed.

I felt that this was be a fair trade, less pain but more sleep.

Then I received a call one evening Ill never forget.
It was from the Doctor who was treating me.
My red blood count was about as low as it could be and I had to stop taking the medicine all together and come in immediately.He spoke like it waslife threatening.

Oh my God,Im feeling better now because of these drugs and now I have to stop. NO...i CANT
but if there messing me up that bad,then of course .Now what do we do.
Another specialist,really? Someone to tell me why ,while these meds are helping me they are robbing me of my red blood calls.

I was told they were 90% sure it was the most important of the three meds I was taking that I forgot to mention supposedly work hand in hand.It was the Sulfasalazin.
I was told it effected only a very small percent of people and I was in that group. Something to do with my ancestry perhaps? Im serious.

Fast forward a few weeks ,take this folic acid, and lets bring that red blood count back up,they said.
Fast forward another few weeks[and Im thinkings [the R A is sure to come back now with no protection]
and we decide I can go back to taking the Hydroxychlor and Naproxen.

Because I was eliminating the most important of the three,they were already explaining to me about me next choice of drugs.This being a series of monthly injections.But I least remained optumistic.

After nearly three monthe I have had no problems None blood tests have been normal Fatigur is gone and I feel like a new person.I had lost all hope and was really at thee end of me rope.
These two medications although I rely on ,am thinlkind aboug going to onlyone a day each and maybe someday soon going off entirely .

Sorry about the spelling and extra gab but I really just wanted to get my message across to someone out there who it may help.

Love to all of you ,Sincerely Arcadia

Hi Arcaida Welcolme to the Roundabout that is RA

i Think Sulfasalazin is also known as Plaquinil i had that early on and it nearly Knocked me off

i had a 42c 109 f Temp and my mouth blew up with ulcers i was Very Sick

and same Very Low Red Blood Cells and High White cells

they told me i must be unusual

Hope the combination you are on now keeps working for you but don't be surprised if you have to change in the future as i think most of us chop around on diffrent medications

main thing is You Keep a Record of what your on and any side effects and act on them Quickly you have to be a bossy paitent and learn as much about both the diease and treatments as you can so you can ask your Rhumy "well what about this or that"

Good Luck

Couchtater, you are mostly correct, and you quote good, However Sulfasalazin is also used to treat Rheumatiod Arthritis and doctors go with a try on this to see if it can help, before trying dmards as dmards do have more side effects. You can find this and other meds on www.drugs.com to research reactions and what your medicine looks like.
SO, very sorry about high jack on this...many well wishes to all.

Woops my bad plaquinil is hydroxychloroquine, Too many Drugs with Diffrent Names Sorry

Golitho
Hang in there. I'm pulling for you.

Hi there.

I took sulfasalazine early on as well.  And it is definitely not the same drug as plaquenil, and is used to treat RA as well as IBD.  My doctor tried me on it before any other DMARDs for RA because I also had IBD symptoms.  Sulfasalazine also dropped my blood counts ridiculously low. All I did was sleep when I took that drug!  Glad to be off it--it also didn't do too much for the RA.

With patience, the other DMARDs work quite well, especially methotrexate.  Combining methotrexate with a biologic is usually what most of us end up doing and that seems to be the magic combo.

Hope you feel better soon.

El