Hi, just wondering has anyone may stopped taking the medications to see how you cope? I was told to take arava and a steroid but wasnt told this would stay in my body for years! And it meant I couldn’t have children!! It helps a bit with pain but not psoriasis. Have only been on it for 2 months…but does anyone know of natural remedies?? I will want children in a year or so…
Hi princesa.
If the only point of the meds was to reduce pain and make us feel better, then stopping them wouldn’t be such a big deal. It would be a simple case of ‘I can handle this’ or ‘I can’t’. But some of the drugs are ‘disease modifying’ i.e. their main purpose is to slow down the disease and prevent joint damage. Arava is one such drug. The big risk with stopping the drugs that are aimed at controlling the disease is that we might not feel worse but the disease could become more destructive without them.
Steroids are a bit different, usually given to provide much needed relief for a while. I guess you know that stopping steroids suddenly can be dangerous? If you did decide to stop you’d have to taper off it according to a doctor’s advice.
There are a whole host of natural ways to help with pain and possibly with psoriasis but they are so not the same as actually controlling what is a potentially very serious disease.
Wondering where your rheumatologist is in all of this? He or she needs to know that you want children and to plan your treatment carefully with you. Whatever you do, don’t stop steroids suddenly! But please get back to your rheumy and ask for help and guidance.
Thanks for this - yeah I must remind myself that the drugs do more than stop pain. Think I’m in denial maybe and try to forget about it all. Because I’ve moved countries I either wait 3 months to see a rheumatologist or pay loads privately to see one now.
Just don’t know what to do.
You mentioned wanting to get pregnant. I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about biologics, the older ones. There is enough research available that they might be willing to consider this.