Hi all! I was previously taking MTX for my RA and it worked quite well all except for one problem...it was causing me to have shortness of breath and chest pains.My rheumy took me off the MTX and my lung problems disappeared.He then put me on Arava which I know now was causing me to experience some pretty bad dizziness.After two days of being off the Arava my dizziness subsided considerably...It now has been 3 weeks and the dizziness is no more
I have been on Arava for 2+ years and didn't get dizzy. It really has caused me no problems other than a quick trip to the bathroom once in a while. I haven't had stomach problems (fingers are still crossed), but I always eat when I take my meds. I do have to have blood tests done every 2 month to monitor any changes to the liver, so far so good. I was on mtx before for about 6 months, but couldn't take it because of the lung problems it caused. The Arave doesn't quite work as well, but I does work. I am happy with it. I hope that I works for you both. Good luck!!!
Lu
Hi, I was Arava for a very short time, about a month or so, I HATED it. It caused me severe stomach pains and I started losing lots of hair. Also, dizzy. So I refused to continue it and we switched to Enbrel then. So far so good. I wouldn't recommend Arava to anyone but only due to personal experience. Looks like it works just fine for some people judging by the posts here. See, everyone does respond differently to these meds.