Re: Leflunomide (Arava) - induced peripheral neuropathy

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I'm so glad that things stabilize when the med is discontinued. What type of

symptoms did you have and how long did it last for? How did they diagnose it?

Aloha,

Georgina

Re: Leflunomide (Arava) - induced peripheral neuropathy

That's what happened to me.. I went off Arava just in time though so it came

back!

Georgina <gmckin11@...> wrote: Leflunomide-induced peripheral

neuropathy.

J Clin Neurosci. 2006 Nov 13

Kho LK, Kermode AG.

Department of Neurology, Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia.

Two cases of leflunomide-induced peripheral neuropathy are described; in a

60-year-old woman with sero-negative polyarthralgia-myalgia syndrome and a

65-year-old man with sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, both treated with

leflunomide at 20mg/day.

Nerve conduction studies and electromyogram showed sensorimotor axonal

neuropathy in both cases.

An alternative cause for the axonal neuropathy was excluded by extensive

investigations, including cerebrospinal fluid examination and nerve biopsy

in the second patient.

Both patients stabilized symptomatically and electrophysiologically upon

cessation of leflunomide.

It is possible that leflunomide-induced peripheral neuropathy has been

under-reported and under-recognized.

PMID: 17107800 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

[Guest guest]

It started out just in my feet, it basically felt like pins and needles all the

time and then it got to the point where I couldn't even really feel my feet it

was just numb. The whole duration of this was about six months. That feeling

started to move up my legs to the point where from my knees down I couldn't feel

anything. I ended up geting a nerve conducting study, MRI, and evoked potential

test and they found it was periphial neuropathy from the meds.. I went off the

meds immediately and it was about three months before I started getting any

feeling back and now seven months later I have complete feeling back. I was

lucky though, because not everyone gets the feeling back.

Lots of Love

(JAS, 21)

Georgina <gmckin11@...> wrote:

Hi ,

I'm so glad that things stabilize when the med is discontinued. What type of

symptoms did you have and how long did it last for? How did they diagnose it?

Aloha,

Georgina

Re: Leflunomide (Arava) - induced peripheral neuropathy

That's what happened to me.. I went off Arava just in time though so it came

back!

Georgina <gmckin11@...> wrote: Leflunomide-induced peripheral

neuropathy.

J Clin Neurosci. 2006 Nov 13

Kho LK, Kermode AG.

Department of Neurology, Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia.

Two cases of leflunomide-induced peripheral neuropathy are described; in a

60-year-old woman with sero-negative polyarthralgia-myalgia syndrome and a

65-year-old man with sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, both treated with

leflunomide at 20mg/day.

Nerve conduction studies and electromyogram showed sensorimotor axonal

neuropathy in both cases.

An alternative cause for the axonal neuropathy was excluded by extensive

investigations, including cerebrospinal fluid examination and nerve biopsy

in the second patient.

Both patients stabilized symptomatically and electrophysiologically upon

cessation of leflunomide.

It is possible that leflunomide-induced peripheral neuropathy has been

under-reported and under-recognized.

PMID: 17107800 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]