psoriatic arthritis / remicade

hi i have been on remicide for 5years  i have severly deformed hands and feet and was in agony with terrible psoriasis before starting this it changed my life completely gave me a life took away the pain and psoriasis completely it was fantastic i  put up with sinus infections pnemonia and other infections as it was worth it until this march i realised my whole left side had gone numb i had to stop it imediately, i had an mri and lesions were discovered in my spinal cord a few months on after a lumbar puncture and other tests another mri after i lost the feeling in my legs last week more lesions new ones since march i am waiting to find out if i have ms is there anyone else on this forum with the same happen to them apparently it can bring ms on i remember reading this and thinking surely it wont happen to me? i see the ms nuero on the 24th july cant wait after having a great 5years appart from the pnemonia i am now back in agony with psoriasis reappearing taking antinflamitorys until i find out what the diagnosis is. thanks for reading  

Hi there Bonniescott

I too am sorry to hear of your troubles

Hopefully the doctors can sort this out real quick. I don't know too much about this but I can understand that a lesian could easily block and cause nerves to become unable to respond as they should. As far as I know, MS is not caused by this. MS is the deteriation  of the nerve at the other end of the nerve, not the spinal cord. It looks like if the lesians weren't there, the problem wouldn't be there either. Leisons do come with RA, but I haven't heard of anyone having them in the spinal cord. I have heard of high doses of prednosone to dissolve leisions in the arm, and this does work (25mg or more a day for a week)

So I really don't think it is the Remicade that is causing the problem. Even so, it maybe time for a change. There have been lots of new developments since remicade. I am currently on Mabthera(Ribimab). it requires a max of 4 visits to the hospital a year to have the infusion and it is a newer biological.

I am praying for you

Debbie

Hi Bonnie,
I'm so sorry to hear of your suffering. Surely there is something out there that will relieve it soon. I'm going to start remicade in a couple weeks. My rheumy uses it on many patients, and he's been voted one of the top 100 doctors in the country (USA), and I've heard nothing but good, glowing reports of how well it works, so perhaps it is not the problem. Whatever is causing your pain, you are in my prayers. ladywriter