Sudden change in skin due to medication side effect?
I'm 40 and I've had RA for 10 years, taking methotrexate, Enbrel, and naprosyn. I am suddenly getting cystic acne around my chin. As soon as one goes away another one starts. This is unusual for me. Is this a medication side effect or possible infection? Another thing to note, I had an unexplained rash on my shin fairly recently that neither my dermatologist or rheumatologist could be sure about but thought it could be related to Enbrel. Prior OTC care did not work but once I used a steroid cream it went away fairly quickly.
I poked around a little in Google and it appears that acne can be a side effect of methotrexate. I would suggest you speak to your rheumatologist about this - you may want to discuss removing methotrexate from your cocktail for a while to see if that helps.
In terms of the rash - when I was on Enbrel, I got a lot of rashes. The medication seemed to significantly increase my histamine response and I got terribly sensitive, developing rashes whenever my clothes were rubbing against my skin. I continued with the medication, though, because the benefits outweighed the rash. Ultimately, I ended up switching to Humira because Enbrel was giving me bad muscle spasms (I also have fibromyalgia and Enbrel aggravated that) and the rash disappeared. I still have a few areas with a rash, but nothing like on Enbrel. Did your rash come back when you start using the cream?
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Penguin
Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 03:34 PM
I'v noticed that my skin is really crepey looking . It's probabally one of my meds, just not sure with one, so I slather on skin lotion all of the time. When I first started on the prednisone, and methotrexate, I itched real bad and would scratch till I was bleeding and bruised. Now I have cataracts that my dr. says is from taking prednisone...just can't win...lol