DMARDS

[Guest guest]

I'm glad the medicine is working. Just so you know, you need to

keep your doctor informed if the medicine stops working as well.

Since RA is progressive, it's common for your meds to one day not

work as well. That is when you need to discuss your meds with your

rheumy. Does he/she know about stoping/starting the prednisone? I

know you are on a low dose and haven't been on it for long, but

usually you must wean off of it, otherwise you can experience

extremely severe side effects. It can also throw you into an RA

flare. Just another thing to be talking to your rheumy about to

ensure you are being treated in the best way possible.

Jennie

>

> In a message dated 8/11/2004 7:26:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

> xponder70@y... writes:

>

> It's probably safe to say that the majority of us with active RA

are

> on one or more DMARDs. I take MTX and it took effect right away

when

> I started it. I also take Humira and I felt improvement within

the

> first few days, although it's more common with a biological to

have

> improvement within a few months.

>

>

> Thank you for the response. I have been taking Sulfasalazine for

for two

> weeks and felt better. It's been over a month now. I started with

Prednisone 5mg

> per day but stopped it after one week due to the depression. I was

feeling

> quite well. Very well. I've had a little bit of stiffness in the

morning but

> not too bad.

>

> I recently had a VERY stressful situation and was hit like a ton

of bricks

> again and realized just HOW well I was feeling since starting the

med. The

> symptoms were back like gangbusters. I have taken a couple days of

the

> prednisone and am much better again. I was feeling so much better,

that aside from the

> slight stiffness in the AM, I was beginning to think it was all in

my head.

>

> I was amazed at how this stress affected me. Just amazed and it

also showed

> me that the Sulfasalazine was doing something.

>

> Abby

>

>

>