Suggest An Alternate Medicine For Leflunomide Taken For Rheumatoid Arthritis

Posted on Tue, 28 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 Answered on

Sat, 16 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I am a 58 years old female having morning stiffness of small joints of hand feet. at times have shooting pain also from these joints. I was diagnosed as having Rheumatoid arthritis. Ra factor was negative. Anticcp antibodies titre was borderline. ESR was 25mm in Ist Hour(Westergren). I was put on 20 mg dose Leflunomide for nearly 4 months. This resulted in weight loss of nearly 10 Kg (from 64 Kg to 54Kg) in four months. Hb values also showed fall from 11.5 G/dl to 9.8 G/dl with leukopenia. Kence drug has to be stopped abruptly. I am keen to know what next should I do as disease seems to be getting more aggressive after stopping the drug.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Shruti Rijhwani (48 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You will be started on another drug.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Madam,

Thank you for posting your query on HCM.

Leflunomide causes weight loss and that is very common . Also the blood count issue that you are talking does happen and generally we just decrease the dose and see but in case your treating doctor wants to stop it , next best option will be using methotrexate which is drug of choice for this disease and it will control the disease well . You can talk to the doctor regarding this option. Any other doubts please ask.

Take care.

Dr. Shruti

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad