Tag Archives: Arava

Why all at once?

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Why does everything seem to happen all at once?

Things just continue to pile up. We’ve had car trouble in the thousands of dollars, because of maintenance and accidents. Stuff is falling apart around the house. Jenny had a severe reaction to Arava which was very scary. My work is insane, and when I say insane, I mean crazy, like dressed up like Mayor McCheese shooting up a Burger King crazy. It’s all too much for me, I guess.

Knowing that it is never smart to ignore symptoms, I went to the doctor to see why I’ve been having chest pain. I went expecting to hear, “Oh, you are stressed out. You are fine.” That’s what I expected, but that’s not the answer I got. I got, “Oh, well, you may be having some issues. You need to go to a cardiologist.”

Seriously? Now? I don’t have time right now.

Leflunomide aka Arava

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Leflunomide (le-FLOO-noh-mide) is the new medicine that was recently prescribed at my wife’s recent visit to UCLA. Leflunomide or Arava is an arthritis medication and will help to reduce Jenny’s overall pain level, without having to increase her pain meds.

According to Sanofi-Aventis, the manufacturer:

Arava (leflunomide), a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), helps improve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms such as joint swelling and tenderness. But unlike many symptom relievers that only help relieve pain and swelling, Arava actually helps slow the progression of joint damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis. In addition, Arava is the only oral DMARD indicated to improve physical function.

It’s pretty exciting to think that a drug will not only take care of Jenny’s RA symptoms, but also help reduce the damage to her joints. We were told that it can actually heal joint damage that has already occurred, but that wasn’t mentioned in the blurb from the manufacturer, so I wonder about the accuracy of that claim. Regardless, Jenny’s been on it for a couple of weeks now and it does seem to be helping her joint pain, without producing any noticeable side-effects.

If you’ve had any experience with Arava, I’d be interested to hear what you thought.