Hi I havent been on here for a while again because I have been in and out of hospital, I have had a reaction to Leflunomide it gave me very high blood pressure, palpatations and shortness of breath this happened on the 20mg dose when Im on the 10mg dose I still get these symptoms only not as bad. I had already reacted to Methotrexate when I was increased to 12.5mg I came out in a rash and blisters on my hands and ear of all places! The disease itself is in my feet, hands, shoulders and my lower back, I take alot of painkillers and next Wednesday I have to go for a total body bone scan. Depending on how my blood pressure is and the results of the scan I may be put on Sulfazine but my consultant is abit wary of changing my drugs due to me being sensitive to them. My psoriasis is settling down after having a nasty infection on my ear which resulted in me having to take a fortnights worth of antibiotics to geti to heal up. Another thing I have now is that I get a strange popping sensation in my index fingers and the consultant said its probably tendonitis, I also have plantar fascitis in both feet and my eyes are feeling dry all the time and my sight is blurred I now cant see to read without my glasses at all now. Is this all normal for psoriatic arthrits and does it ever get better or is that it for me for now.
I took Sulfasalazine years ago for about 3 months. It didn't work for me. Sulfa.. is known to cause stomach issues so don't be surprised if your unable to tolerate the side effects. As far as safety, sulfa is one of if not the safest DMARD on the market. However, it only works for a small percentage of people. But, you may very well be one of the lucky one's. And yes PsA can get better over time. Unfortunately for most people the disease is progressive and will get worse over time. But with all the treatment options available these day's most people w/ PsA are able to lead a normal active life.
I am an example of how PsA can get better. In 2008 i was riddled with PsA. I was near completely disabled. I had severe PsA is my feet, toes, fingers, knees, shoulder, elbows, and even my jaw. I was unable to even eat a sandwich. So I started MTX and it worked great and I was pain free for nearly a year. But, I was not willing to abide by the alcohol restrictions so I switched to Sulfasalazine for about 3 months but it upset my stomach too much. Then I went on Humira for about a year. It worked for the PsA I guess but did nothing for my skin. Then I switched to Remicade and had a terrible reaction and had to stop that after 6 months or so. So then I was RX'ed Enbrel but never took it. I figured I would hold off and wait until my symptoms returned beings I was arthritis free. Well, that was last November. Since then my PsA has magically vanished and I've been completely 100% pain free for 14 months now. My skin however has not been so lucky. My P has went from mild to moderate, to now severe. So I guess I'm gonna break out the Enbrel I've had in the fridge for the last year and give it a try.
Lynbo! It’s been a while since you’ve been here. How did you get on with the sulfasalazine?
If I had seen this post at the time, I would certainly have said, “Yes it gets better, but it can take a bit of time.” I hope it has got better for you since you posted this.