Great question, and one that scared the heck out of me when I started all these dang meds!
I\'ve only been sick once in the year since I was diagnosed. I had sniffles one day, and the next was at the doctor feeling horrible...and no wonder! I had two ear infections, sinusitis, and bronchitis! It took two rounds of antibiotics to clear it up.
I was on the same meds then as now...Humira, Plaquenil, Sulfasalazine, and MTX. The only one I stopped was Humira.

I have been LESS sick with colds, etc since starting all these meds. But, it was harder to get rid of. I also get flu shots and recently got a pneumonia vaccine. Bacterial pneumonia is something we definitely want to avoid.

All of us should NOT take over-the-counter cold meds without dr. approval! This is very important, as some of the ingredients are not our friends (depending on what meds we are on).

I have gotten sick once in two years!!! Don\'t know how I keep avoiding it with an 8 yr old in school and live in mother in law is in health care!!!!! I had a major upper respiratory infection that went from sneeze to doctor in 38 hours!!!! Put on Levaquin as it is one of the very few I can due to allergies. Had to stay off of Enbrel and MTX until the Levaquin was done. It took 20 days of Levaquin for me.

EEEEK!! jdfwood you said the EVIL word...LEVAQUIN!!! I\'m glad you apparently didn\'t have the same reaction to Levaquin that I did...acute tendonitis everywhere!
There is a danger with Levaquin (and other quinolone antibiotics like Cipro) for tendon damage, and this risk is increased for peeps with RA.

I HAVE to share that, because you do NOT want this side effect. You\'d rather have RA!!!

I can tell you one thing for certain. If you didn\'t hold some of the medicines your recovery time will be a lot, lot longer. I am on Enbrel and have had to hold the injection a couple of times, which to me was okay, if I knew it meant getting better faster.

When I started taking mtx, I caught EVERYTHING, and was sick a lot. I\'m not sure if it is the weather making things better, or not being around sick people as much or what, but not so much lately. However, 3 months ago I had to do a round of antibiotics for some lung stuff (such medical terminology, I know, sorry), and was advised to not take my mtx while taking the AB\'s. Then it came back again last month - same thing. Yes, it seems to take longer to heal/recover.

I have been on MTX for 3yrs and work in a hospital and have never been sick knock on wood. But I do worry about it.

I had a case of shingles right after I started taking the Enbrel injections. Didn\'t know what they were at first so I continued the Enbrel which I found out from my dermatologist was making the case worse. So I went off the Enbrel till they had just about disappeared. Then I caught a bad U.R. infection and had to go off of it again. My R.A. doctor kept me on the MTX. While I was just on the MTX and Pred. I never caught anything. But the help I get from the Enbrel is worth it so far.

I already had a tendency to get really ill in the Fall and Spring with respiratory crap - another bold medical terminology - because of my asthma. I didn\'t know about stopping Humira when I get sick so winter \'08 I was ill for 4 months solid and had just about every respiratory issue known to Jill. Someone mentioned it in their postings and I tried it this winter when I got sick and my recovery was much quicker. So as much as I hate delaying my RA meds for this (and me) it is important...hugs jilly