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Is anyone else taking Leflunomide (Arava) & Remicaide for RA treatment?

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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 5/25/2009 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
I am a 32 year old mother of 2. Diagnosed with RA in 2004, have been on MTX had alergic reaction to it, was on Plaquenil for 4 yrs. and never felt any benefits from it. Have been on variouse anti-inflamitories over the last 5 years and just stopped taking Humira to begin the Remicaide and Luflonomide this week. I am looking for anyone who has taken Luflonomide (Arava) and/or Remicaide either together or seperatly and can give me some kind of info on either good or bad experiences with them. I'm very nervouse but am hoping to find some relief and enjoy my life. Thanks in advance to anyone who can share there experiences with me.

 

Posted 5/25/2009 11:40 PM (GMT 0)
I was on arava with mtx and sulphasolasine. It was the best my arthritis has ever been!!! I did lose quite a bit of hair on the arava but unfortunately after 3 months had the emergency phone call, my white blood cell count had plummeted to dangerously low levels, so they took me off the combo. Like all drugs the reactions are so individual. Keep your fingers crossed that this combo works for you. Why did you come off the humira? Best wishes, golitho

Posted 5/26/2009 8:43 PM (GMT 0)

Golitho,

Thanks for your help, I appreciate your input. The Humira was working great for me the first 3 months then I began getting sick quite often, 1 time it lead to pnuemonia, which was pretty scarey. After taking humira injections 2 X a month for 6 months, the humira started wearing off earlier and earlier every time. I was still showing signs of joint damage in the hands and feet. So my Rhuemy recommended that I give Remicade a try. I had a reaction to MTX and plaquenil wasn't working so the rhuemy wants me to be on Arava in combo with the remicade.  I am scared of the hair loss with the arava, I am hoping it doesn't happen but am hearing a lot of people on it experience some form of hair loss. Did your hair grow back in normaly once you were off the Arava? and how is your white cell count since being off the arava?  wishing you the best in health! Melissa

Posted 5/27/2009 2:52 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Melissa, yup my hair grew again although I'm still on mtx so it has never fully thickened up again. But at least I stopped losing it and it started to grow in length. The white cell count bounced back to normal after being off the drugs for two weeks. I also caught pneumonia after about 3 months on humira but after i finally recovered from that plus costochondritis and settled back on humira health wise I've been quite good. In fact I caught a cold recently and for the first time in about 3 years it didn't develop into a chest infection!!! I had both the flu shots and pneumonia shot this year and so far its made a huge difference to me. Maybe that would help you when the weather turns cool again. I'm assuming you're in the States? Anyway I'm very interested in how you go on remicade. Just in case my rheumy changes biologics!!! Mtx is a fairly heavy duty drug I'm not surprised you had a reaction to it. I came off it intially as it upset my liver but this last time she started me off on 10mg and has very slowly built up to 20 plus I now take 5mg of folic acid 12 hours after the dose which has cut the side effects remarkably. Keep in touch, golitho
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