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Today my rheumy added ARAVA to my MTX,Plaquenil,Celebrex RA mix.  She still has me only on Panadeine Forte for pain and I still take Nexium and Lexapro and Cabaser and Folic Acid and Omega 3 and Vitamin D. 

Wow does my Pharmacist ever love to see me walk in the door each month.!!

Any information on ARAVA would be appreciated.  I'm starting on 10 mg a day and have dropped back to monthly blood work (I was up to every 3 months). I was on arava for a short time. I was taken off because of abdominal pain, I think - it was quite a while ago. It helps a lot of people, so I wish you great successI've never heard of taking MTX twice a week like that, although the combined
dose doesn't seem overly high. Do you know why your RD set you up that
way, MaryBlooms?

((((hugs))))  What is your dose of folic acid?  When the doc increased my mtx dose he also increased my folic acid dose.  It does help somewhat with the prevention of hair loss.  I can only imagine what it would be like without it. 

There are also shampoos that your hair stylist can recommend to help witht he hair loss and thicken up your hair a little bit. 

Thanks folks.  Always good to hear from those who are on the journey.  I take 5 mg folic acid 3 times a week.  that should be enough.  If my hair gets much thinner I think I'll go down to Peter Mac and check out their wigs.  Peter Mac is the cancer hospital and they have really good wigs.  I can live with the hair, the pain would be nice to be rid of.  Lets hope this combo works.

 

 

I am no help with the Arava, I'm afraid. I never had any side effects, except it didn't work and triggered me into a huge flare that lasted six months.

I hope this new combo does the job for you, Pam. Fingers crossed, darl. Gimpy,

I complained (again) about the MTX and how exhausted it made me for the weekend.  Also the amount of hair I was losing.  I don't think she cared much about that, she really changed it because the chronic anemia I was having.  She didn't know if it was anemia of chronic diseases or if it was the MTX. 

I guess I will find out when I do my labs in a couple of weeks.  Actually, it does help with the fatigue, I think. I can't be sure since I only teach part time during the summer, but there is no way I could feel the way I did and continue to work as many hours as I had been. 
I did post a question a while back asking if anyone else was a schedule with both Arava and MTX like that, but no one was.  I am feeling better though, but it could be that the anemia has cleared up and boy does that make you tired!

I took arava, for about a year and a half. It made me lose a lot of my hair, and it made me very very tired. I would be in bed by 6-7pm everynight, because I just could not stay awake while on it. I stopped taking it when I stopped going to that RD. I do not think it helped me any. I really did not notice a difference then when I was on it and then off of it, only that I got my energy back, and was not drop dead tired all day and my hair was not falling out.

Good Luck! Hope it helps ya out!If I see your funny stick figures poking with finger in the eye I will pee my pants laughing Hi, I don't take Arava, but I take Remicade and fell asleep all the time after my last dose. Also, lost hair when I first started on 20mtx,once a week and only 1mg of folic acid (I asked my doc 3 x's is this right and he said 'yes'), but it seems to be getting better lately. (3 months), On 5 prednisone i don't feel hungry all the time and my moon face has disappeared. Hope this helps, I'm going to try to reduce the amount of all these meds in 6 months...not right now. Lynda
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