You may find that it's not permanent...get foot and hand xrays if you haven't. My doc gives these annually to help track RA progress in some fashion.

I can't remember your insurance status - no insurance or just not good insurance.
The biologic companies have programs for financial assistance. I don't know the details of these - perhaps insurance is required.

What happened with MTX? Liver? There is sulfasalizine to try. Also plaquenil, although I remember my doc telling me it was really a go to drug to add to a biologic.

I'm sure someone on here knows about the changes taking place in January for insurance coverage in the US...like pre-existing conditions not being excluded, no conditional wait times, premium toppers, etc.

It's good you are on top of the situation. After being on enbrel for a few months last year, I believe it put my RA in remission and I'm only now coming out of remission. (so those 3 months potentially held off RA progress for a year) Everyone is different though. (My doc did not plan to take me off Enbrel - I had to due to MTx liver issues. Once off, I chose to wait to restart and just haven't had to yet)

MTX caused liver value issues and my bloodcount to drop within 5 weeks. It took 3 months to get them back in line. I finally have insurance but its not very good insurance. Plaquinel can cause issues with the eyes. All the meds out there scare the crap out of me worse than the RA. Liver damage, lymphoma, leukemia, increased risk of infections,colds flu, on and on and on. Find me a drug that is not going to kill me quicker than the RA and I'm in.

Plaquenil has worked very well for me with no negative side effects. Of all of the RA drugs it is the least worrisome, in my opinion. I worried about the eye problems but my last eye exam said all was well. If you follow up with regular eye exams you can stop the drug before it does any real damage. I don't know if Plaquenil helps delay or prevent joint damage or not but it has gone a long way in helping me with the pain, swelling and stiffness.
I share your feelings about the RA drugs. I tried Arava and within two days developed a rash. I have decided that I will take my chances with just the Plaquenil and let my body do the best it can.

I know what you mean, I was the kind of person that never took any meds because of fear of side effects. I cannot believe how my life has changed. I am now on so many meds, Prilosec, aspirin, naprosin, plaquenil, MTX, remicade. It's crazy when my RA started I refused to take meds, I fought against it until I couldn't walk anymore. I had a wheelchair and that depressed me, i cried everyday feeling sorry for myself. I then made a decision and began taking meds, I've been on many and some have caused side effects where I've had to stop them and tried something else. For me it was a conscious decision between quality over quantity. I now walk without any problems and I get to enjoy my family to a certain extent. There's still limitations but I'm happy with my decision, I sincerely wish you the best.

Roni

I understand how you feel about the drugs. I felt the same way. I talked to my doctor many times before deciding to try MTX. It didn't agree with my stomach that's when I tried Enbrel. I felt like a new person the next day. I was still scared but as I did more research and found that some people that have problems already had health issues on biologics. My doctor told me that the biologics help protect from Lymphoma. The RA itself can cause Lymphoma. Too many pain meds can cause liver problems (especially Tylenol) It's a hard choice to make. But when you get the right meds it's like your RA is gone. The rheumy's are always doing blood test to keep an eye on everything. Not doing anything can be just as bad as the side effects of the meds. At least the meds give you a fighting chance. If you don't feel right tell the doctor.

Same liver issue here, nomorera. Same here. And because of the MTX liver, my doc said NO to plaquenil.Not enough benefit for some liver risk.

Enbrel really was amazing for me. And, I posted a month or two ago a link to a short term study on Biologics - NO increased risk of cancer. Still hasn't been studied long enough to have long term study results yet, but they will be coming in the future.

mtx didn't kill my liver, but i got horrible side effects from it - i couldn't function, so i was off of it within 3 weeks. sulfasalazine also gave me bad side effects. i get basically no side effects from arava, which is what i'm on now - my body overreacts to basically all meds, to the extent that, even though i have great insurance and it would pay for biologics, i couldn't tolerate any of them either. but the arava is working better than any of them. i needed something that would work and not have the side effects deplete my quality of life as much as the disease. i'd suggest you give that a try - i'm about to get my first liver test since starting it, and since i'm not feeling off in any way i assume everything will be fine. if my overreacting body tolerates it, yours may as well. and i think it's cheap. my doctor also told me that the potential for side effects from that are lower than with other drugs.

Have you been walking in a shuffling/painful way? As if to say, limping around and not taking full strides? I ask this b/c I just broke my ankle and am almost recovered, BUT the weakest part of my foot still, is the part between my big and 2nd toe. And so, there is a gap there now when I walk that wasn't there before and my physical therapist and I think it's just due to inactivity and weakness.

So, if your feet are full or pain and weak, maybe you have the same story and strength could fix it. I hope so! If you want to talk more, email me OK?

I also have gaps between a few toes. One thing I developed as my RA was also becoming known was a Morton's Neuroma between two of my toes. I had to have it removed and not sure if it was because of the surgery or my RA,but I still have a gap between the two toes. On my other foot I a gap between two toes also....it sucks when I want to wear sandals as the gaps are pretty noticable. oh well!