worried about my Mom and Arava

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

My 65 year old mother has had psoriatic arthritis her whole life and

is presently on the drug 'Arava'. I believe she's been on it for nearly

a year now and it's working well for her, although one of her tests did

come back with elevated liver enzymes but that was taken care of. So

all in all, she's very happy with Arava so far. However, the other day

I saw something on TV which frightened me - That commercial with the KB

Moll law firm - Anybody familiar with it? They claim that several

people who have taken Arava now have a life threatening autoimmune

disease called 's- Syndrome'. I mentioned it to my mom,

but the thought of having to go off Arava is devastating to her. She's

sure that she'd only wind up in a wheelchair and she's probably right.

Her doctor prescribed Arava after her Methotrixate stopped working. I

wonder if there are any other drugs out there that would work for her

as well as Arava that she has already built a resistance to? Thanx in

advance........

a

[

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 07/18/2002 5:29:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

abigurrl@... writes:

> That commercial with the KB

> Moll law firm - Anybody familiar with it?

I've also seen commercials for law firm to sue for problems related to

enbrel, vioxx, mtx, etc. Hey, let's face it, these are serious drugs we are

on. They aren't without side effects, some of which can probably cause

severe health problems. But what's our choice? Without them we couldn't

function. So basically, it's choosing one evil over another. I wouldn't get

too upset just yet. Remember the hysteria over saccharin? Now it's back on

the market. Yes, there are potentially life threatening side effects, but

probably 1 in 1,000,000 develops them. I'll take those odds if I can keep on

moving.

[Guest guest]

After reading your email last night I became concerned because I've been

taking arava. I did a search on the web about s- Syndrome and

found that it is caused by allergic reaction to many different prescription

drugs. It's between the chemistry of the drug and the person using it that

causes the syndrome. At least that how I interpreted it. Maybe that will ease

your mind a little.

Theresa

[Guest guest]

Have done a little more research on the subject. Maybe there is some cause

for worry after all. SJS is caused by adverse allergic reaction and it seems

that in comparison to methotrexate , arava has caused several cases of it.

Also liver toxicity is much higher and there have been several cases of death

reported by arava. The drug also is not elimaneted from the body easily and

side effects can stay with a person for several months after quitting the

drug. HMMM!

Theresa