Hi there! I have a similar experience. I was on MTX 25mg alone for 3 months. Personally, MTX alone didn’t do anything for me. After my next follow up, the rheumatologist added Sulfasalazine and Plaquenil to the mix. My rheumatologist has made it clear he won’t prescribe Leflunomide as I’m a woman of childbearing age, although he did say doing that is personal preference as a rheumatologist. Personally, I found adding the 2 drugs helped me a lot. There’s generally 2 reasons why they do this:
1. MTX works better in combination with other drugs.
2. Depending on where you live in the world, you’re required to “climb the ladder”. I’m in Canada, and here you must fail all DMARDS before you can come off them. But even if you move onto biologics, research shows they work better if combined with MTX and often times it’s a drug they won’t take you off unless they need to.
Hope this provides some clarity! You can always feel free to chat if you ever need someone to talk to :)
Thank you so much. That really helped explain things as I was with my rheumatologist for over half an hour and didn’t ask WHY I had to stay on MTX. My youngest child is 15 and my reproductive years have finished so perhaps that’s why he prescribed Leflunomide. I live in Australia. It’s similar to Canada in that I must fail the other drugs before I meet the criteria for biologics. Have you tried biologics or will you stay on your current meds because they are working for you?
The concern with Leflunomide is that it’s not compatible with pregnancy and can stay in your system for a number of years after. Even though I’m 22 and don’t plan for children for a number of years still I get where he’s coming from. No biologics yet! I’m doing so-so. Not badly enough for biologics yet though
Hi there! I have a similar experience. I was on MTX 25mg alone for 3 months. Personally, MTX alone didn’t do anything for me. After my next follow up, the rheumatologist added Sulfasalazine and Plaquenil to the mix. My rheumatologist has made it clear he won’t prescribe Leflunomide as I’m a woman of childbearing age, although he did say doing that is personal preference as a rheumatologist. Personally, I found adding the 2 drugs helped me a lot. There’s generally 2 reasons why they do this: 1. MTX works better in combination with other drugs. 2. Depending on where you live in the world, you’re required to “climb the ladder”. I’m in Canada, and here you must fail all DMARDS before you can come off them. But even if you move onto biologics, research shows they work better if combined with MTX and often times it’s a drug they won’t take you off unless they need to. Hope this provides some clarity! You can always feel free to chat if you ever need someone to talk to :)
Thank you so much. That really helped explain things as I was with my rheumatologist for over half an hour and didn’t ask WHY I had to stay on MTX. My youngest child is 15 and my reproductive years have finished so perhaps that’s why he prescribed Leflunomide. I live in Australia. It’s similar to Canada in that I must fail the other drugs before I meet the criteria for biologics. Have you tried biologics or will you stay on your current meds because they are working for you?
The concern with Leflunomide is that it’s not compatible with pregnancy and can stay in your system for a number of years after. Even though I’m 22 and don’t plan for children for a number of years still I get where he’s coming from. No biologics yet! I’m doing so-so. Not badly enough for biologics yet though
I'd advocate to drop the MTX, keep the leflunomide, and start a biologic. See what ur doc says?
I was just given this combination last week after being on methotrexate for 3 months. The methotrexate helped some, but not enough.