Rheumatoid Arthritis
"I&#039;ve been on Arava for over 10 years now.  At first (following the loading dose) I was taking 20 mg daily.  I went from not being able to dress myself to being completely independent and relatively pain free.  I do have fibromyalgia, so there has been some muscle pain with that. I lost quite a bit of hair at first, but that stopped.  After 7 or 8 years I asked my doctor if I could try to taper down.  I went from 20 mg daily to 20 mg every other day.  I have mild psoriasis which flared when I cut back, but eventually it cleared up again.  After a year, my doctor decreased it to 10 mg every other day.  The psoriasis flared again, but is now gone and I am maintaining at 10 mg every other day and doing well."