Sulfasalazine, Methotrexate, Enbrel, Humira, or try and chnage my diet.

[Therapist]

I have had PA for about 2 years now its on a scale of 1-10 ten being the worst im about a 4 or 5. As my title asks, which one should I do, my insurance covers the expensive meds just fine so its just a matter of choosing. How real is the risk of lymphoma with Enbrel or Humira? And what can go wrong on methotrexate. Please, a lot of you have made the choice I am about to make and owuld like to get some input before i decide. Thanks!

[ouchyk]

Hi,

Changing your diet won't hurt you as long as your getting the proper nutrients. And a healthy diet is always warranted. :) There are no known diets proven to stop the possible progression or possible joint damage that can occur with PA.

Here is a list of all the medications that you asked about along with possible side effects.

http://www.psoriasis.org/treatment/psa/dmards.php

You could also incorporate a healthy diet with any of the treatments. It took me a long time and a number of treatments before I decided to go on a biologic, the long term effects are not known however I'm okay with the possible risk vs benefit ratio as it applies to me.

Get your rheumatologists input, that's super important. My rheumy hits my PA as hard as it's hitting me, keeps a very careful watchful eye out thru appointments, labs, x-rays, MRI's ect. And he doesn't have a problem sending me for other treatments ie; physical therapy, pain management etc.

Good luck with your decision, get as much info as you can! A informed patient is a empowered patient.

Karen :)

[MikeK]

Hi Therapist,

Welcome to the Board! :cool: Nice to meet you.

There are a lot of people who post here use some sort of systemic medication (i.e., Enbrel, methotrexate, etc.). (I'm sure that you'll be hearing from some of them in the next few days.) Fortunately, most of them report being please with the results that they've seen. Even better most of them of
report experiencing little or no side effects. Sadly, there have been a small number of people who've developed some serious health problems that may or may not be related to the medications that they were using. :( (Unfortunately, -- in the case of the biologics -- there's really no way of knowing for sure.) Links to their very sad stories can be found in this post:
http://www.psoriasis.org/forum/showthread.php?p=236463&highlight=Samantha#post236463.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Keep us posted. Let us know if you have any other questions and please don't be a stranger.

Mike

[RichJ]

hi Therapist,
sorry i can't help much but welcome to the p family. you have meet some of the wonderful people on here and will find alot of great info. welcome and nice to meet you.

have a good night all

richard

[SCCatman]

I would advise going with one of the bioligalcs.
With P, you can try different stuff and see what happens, if something does not work, you can just try something else.
With PA, joint damage is being done, and once done, it can never be repaired. And it can happen fast.
MTX is bad for the liver, so I would avoid that.
That leaves the bioligals. Your rhumy can help you pick the right one for you. If it doesn't work, don't be afraid to change. But also remember it takes a few months for any of these to work.

best wishes.
Dennis