'A Patient Voice' Community

Hello crane3511ba,

While I am not a medical professional and cannot comment on your medications, I do know that they all have their risks and side effects. A call to your doctor should clarify the side effects you might be experiencing with dry skin.

For your hands, I would suggest soaking them in warm water for 5 -10 minutes, then covering immediately with a good occlusive ointment, then putting on cotton gloves to sleep. This will help lock in the moisture.

Julie

hello, C --

while of course being no substitute for your dr's advice, webMD does have some info on most meds. i am not a medical person, but here are some things i learned from that info and from additional sites that i consider to be medically credible..

i found nothing that seemed relevant on naprelan/naproxen. as well as treating rheumatoid arthritis, enbrel/etanercept (see PS1) is used to treat the "scaly patches" that accompany psoriasis, so it seems unlikely to me that it would be causing your dry skin. on the other hand (so to speak!), "dry skin" is listed as a side effect, but only a rare one, of leflunomide/arava (PS2).

i looked at several sites that i consider medically credible in order to see what i could find out about withdrawal symptoms of methotrexate/rheumatrex, celebrex/celecoxib, and prednisone/deltasone. the only relevant info i found from those sites indicated that psoriasis might flare up if withdrawal from prednisone was not gradual; however, you said that you were "weaned off" prednisone, so it seems unlikely to me that such an exception would apply here.

the bottom line of the admittedly limited research i did seems to be that except for a very minor possible conflict between enbrel and leflunomide, the chances are relatively low that either your current meds or the ones you discontinued are causing your dry skin. however, to be absolutely certain, you should tell your dr about this.

i hope you can find some relief soon.

-- susie margaret

PS1 -- webMD info on enbrel/etanercept is at http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-16772-Enbrel SubQ.aspx?drugid=16772&drugname=Enbrel SubQ&source=2 .

PS2 -- webMD info on leflunomide/arava is at http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-16551-Leflunomide Oral.aspx?drugid=16551&drugname=Leflunomide Oral&source=2 .

Ms Julie, thank you very much for your response however I was actually one step ahead of you, called my doctor and she prescribed Fluocinolone Acetonide ointment and as you said it is very rare that this is a side effect while using Embrel....crane

Thank you Ms Susie, doctor prescribed a steroid ointment and said that while on Embel it is rare but it is a possible side effect. I do appreciate your response........crane

hello, crane --

a good lesson for all of us, esp me -- if something seems weird, even tho it doesn't appear in written materials, call your dr!

thanks for the update.

-- susie margaret