To Sue

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue,

Replacement medication is getting to be slim picking's. I did have a

mild heart attack while taking Vioxx and then was put on Celebrex which

I still take but am wondering about continuing with that since they are

putting such a strong warning on the drug. I took Bextra for a while too

but was getting burning chest pain and stomach problems with that.

Guess between all of us we have probably tried just about everything.

I had trouble with my first RA Doctor returning my calls and not getting my

paperwork handled so I changed doctors. I am in the greater Kansas

City area and so do have quite a few choices if I don't mind driving

for an hour. When it comes to handling my pain, I definitely don't mind

driving and am happy with the change.

Don't hesitate to change doctor's if they aren't meeting YOUR needs.

I hate change but finally did change after not getting what I perceived

to be the attention that this disease deserved. I did a lot of reading when

they finally did diagnose my RA but there is so much to absorb that I

am not sure I understand much that I read. I do know that this is an

aggressive disease and so you have to be aggressive with treatment.

Didn't mean to make this such a long e-mail. I do have a tendency to

run off at the fingers :-)

Best of luck to you Sue. Take charge!!!

Hugs,

Pat

Hi Pat, at first I was on methotrexate, along with prednisone that was

supposed to help the pain and inflammation until the mtx took effect.

My white blood cell count kept going down, so I was switched to Arava.

That worked very well as far as keeping the pain and inflammation at

bay, but didn't do much for the fatigue. My WBC count continued its

decline, so finally I was switched to Enbrel. It works very well, but

it's been getting help from Bextra, which they yanked off the market a

few days ago. So far I don't have a replacement for the Bextra. For two

days I've left messages and have received no response. Guess I'll try

again tomorrow. Sue