Even though I'm still undiagnosed, I've been voraciously reading all I could and learning so much from y'all's experience.
Well, I just learned something else from another post, and that is that methotrexate is not given if you're allergic to sulfa, and I am. I knew this would cut out sulfasalazine, but this is the first I'd known about the mtx.
Where might the rheumatologist start for someone allergic to sulfa? Are there other treatments I wouldn't be able to take?
I take methotrexate and I have a sulfa allergy...I've never had any problems.
LynnArava is another option. Usually people eaither take that or MTX.I had a hard time finding the post. It was milly's first post in this thread where she says she can't take mtx because of a sulfa allergy. Is it maybe the degree of allergy that determines whether you can take it?
Just trying to cover all the bases as I'd hate not to be able to take something that's been wonderfully effective for so many of you...
I have a pretty severe sulfa allergy..the anaphylatic kind. I carry an epi-pen with me all the time, just in case.
I've taken methotrexate for about 8 years and I've never had any problems.
Lynn
You might want to check out this info from MedicineNet.com.
http://www.medicinenet.com/methotrexate-oral/page3.htm
Lynn
Sunndy, I, too, have severe sulfa allergy. My rheumatologist gave me MTX and was very aware of my drug allergies. I took it for a few months, but then began getting severe cough that wouldn't go away. She said that I was allergic to MTX and not to take anymore. It wasn't helping me anyway.
But I never have heard of a connection between sulfa and mtx. Obviously, sulfasalazine is out of the question for those of us with sulfa allergy.
I hope you are able to get a diagnosis soon, so your RD can begin to treat you. Just make sure your RD knows of your drug allergies, and he/she should treat you accordingly.
Please keep us posted.
Be well, Nini
My mom has a sulfa allergy and can't take drugs that have it. When i have a reaction to meds, they "all" were sulfa drugs.
She thinks that might be my problem as well.
I probably read something wrong. I was looking up medicines one day and it may have been that they listed sulfaslazine under mtx and i read it wrong and it really bumed me out. Not sure i will have to go back and find it. I did notice that some of people that were allergic to sulfa also had mtx allergies. So between the two i may have been confused. So i am glad to see that some people with sulfa allergies can take mtx.I am allergic to sulfa and couldn't take it. I tried mtx before taking sulfa and I had such severe cramping and headaches, diarrhea, the dr didn't say I was allergic but took me off mtx. He said some people can't handle it and I guess I was one of them. It was awful! I have many allergies, cats,grass,pollen,dust, etc. Sulfa was the first drug that I have ever been allergic to.
Take care
I have sulfa allergies so that means no sulfa antibiotics for me. I can still take the tetracyclines (Minocin) to control my PRA. I have read that there are ways to get over an allergy to meds like sulfa but haven't researched it further. If I start the MP I have to have gotten rid of the sulfa allergy.
I do think many people are not allergic to an antibiotic when they say they are. There is a difference between Lynn's need for an Epi pen and people that just get hives or headaches. The hives/headaches/naseau etc. people can only be dealing with die off of microbes and those reactions are to be expected. But for me, when my face blew up and got 'flat' I know it's not just a jarische-herxheimer reaction but a 'true' allergy.
Pip
Well my mistake. I could not remember what drugs i have tryed in the past and was allergic to. So sad. Not for RA but for my bowel condition that had kept getting more serious dx's everytime i got the scopes. Could not even remember what my last dx was. Inflamatory bowel disease i think. I do not think i ever made it up the ladder to chrones disease yet. Anyway all of those drugs where a wash, me and that doc we just decided the allergic reactions where doing more damage than disease and put it all on hold. I am a strange one. I was allergic to my allergy shots really badly. And even some allergy meds. Got my tubes tied because i could not handle the birth control pills anymore. Allergic to several asthma meds. Antibiotics most of them. I am saying i am a freak when it comes to allergic reactions. Pollens , trees, grasses, plants , bugs , animals, meds, foods, chemicals. I can not remember all the meds names as i took them once and got very sick. The pharmacy only holds records for two years back now. That is not very helpful. So sorry if i confused you. I got confused myself. Thanks for clearing this up.I do have a question for you. Sunny D - What kind of diuretics do you take? Thank you, milly, for visiting this thread so we could figure it out. I do hope you don't feel as if I put you on the spot or anything; if I did it was unintentional.