I went to see my rheumatologist today as an emergency case. My crp was up its highest until now at 140 so mtx isn't working! My hb has gone even further, so iron tablets aren't working yet either.
She looked at my pathetic, swollen body and straight away said we need to add another dmard, hence the introduction of sulfasalazine. I'm to start on 1x 200mg morning and evening for 2 wks then 2x200mg for 10 wks. She gave more more steroid injections and a prescription for 2wks of 30mg, 1wk of 20mg and 1 week of 10mg of prednisolone if the injections don't work in a week. She apologised for not being able to put me straight onto anti-tnf's but said she'll see me in 6wks and is hoping to apply earlier for the next step in meds.
I took my first sulfasalazine tonight. As I take omeprazole twice a day, I have to make sure that there's a 2 hour gap before or after I take omeprazole. I'm to continue with metoject, 20mg, once a week too. Obviously to continue with iron tablets at vits etc.
Fingers crossed 👍
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Moomin8
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Don't think I even got that far, I think if you were going to have a severe reaction you'd have woken up and known about it. I felt unbelievably bad. A & E bad.
It's a 'rare' side-effect, I am listed as allergic to sulfasalazine in my medical notes now.
Ha, least of my worries. 😀 It was years ago now, all part of the process. Some drugs work for some and not for others. No drug works for everyone unfortunately.
These days humira has been my saviour and allowed me to (recently) stop taking any other (RA) drug. I'm pleased about that as you might imagine.
Still got to get off painkillers for my back but working on that.
So don't give up, I was a mess and nothing seemed to help and now my RA is well controlled and I haven't even had a joint replacement for ooh, 2 years. 😀 I'm hopeful that I can avoid any more, but time will tell.
I am listed as that too but my reaction took longer. We all have very different body chemical make up and not all of us suffer side effects so we have to be careful not to scare people off meds . Just be aware of what our bodies are telling us and inform Docs if we feel it's not right. Good Luck and lots of hugs
I agree and didn't mean to make it sound scary. As I said it is a rare reaction, your chances of it working are way higher than any severe reaction. We must just be 'lucky'. 😀
sorry if it sounded like I was telling you off I didn't mean it to. I have been told today to stop new meds I have only been on them 5 weeks. Looks like these are not for me too.
How are you managing on sulfa Moomin8? I had no side effects with sulfa. I could pop them like tic tacs.
Morning suzannedale, I seem to be tolerating it so far; I'm only on 2 x 500mg a day until this Wednesday - it will be 2 wks by then. After that I have to take 2 x 500mg morning and night - making 2000 mg a day. It's made my wee yellow 🙁as they said it would and it took about a week to get rid of the acrid, burning taste and feeling in my nose and mouth! It's not making any difference, in a positive way, to my rheumatoid arthritis. All of my joints are so sore and swollen- it's affecting my walking now😕Thanks for asking though 😊x
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