• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center

Show Search
Hide Search
  • Disease Information
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Ankylosing Spondylitis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Gout
    • Osteoporosis
  • Patient Corner
    • Drug Information Sheets
    • Managing Your Arthritis
    • RheumTV – Patient Education Video Library
  • Our Research
    • Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
    • Current Research Studies
    • The Camille Julia Morgan Arthritis Research and Education Fund
  • About Us
    • Appointment Information
    • Contact Us
    • Our Faculty
    • Our Staff
    • Rheumatology Specialty Centers
  • Donate
Home / Ask the Expert / Efficacy of Sulfasalazine?

Efficacy of Sulfasalazine?

September 5, 2007 By Clifton Bingham, III, MD

Question

Hi, I’m 19 and I was diagnosed with RA in November last year. Before I was diagnosed I was put on 20mg prednisolone, etoricoxib 90mg and co-codemol. Once diagnosed I was put on methotrexate and folic acid, with the aim of incresing the MTX up to 20mg and decreasing the pred. I was taken off MTX in January due to a chronic cough and little response, and put on sulfasalazine 2g. Since then I have been trying to decrease the pred. I am now on 9mg daily. Every time I decrease the dose of pred I have a flare which lasts for about a week. Does the fact that I am flaring as I decrease the pred mean that the sulfasalazine is not sufficiently controlling the disease? I have now been on sulfasalazine for four and half months.

Answer

Many DMARD options are avaialble to treat RA including methotrexate, Arava (leflunomide), sulfasalazine, and biological agents.  Many of these medications require time to work (which can be several months) and require dose titration to find the efffective dose.  It is Important to communicate your symptoms to your rheumatologist and telling them that you are still having these symptoms.  Sometimes even higher doses of sulfasalazine are required to control symptoms.  Other medication options may also be needed either alone or in combination with the sulfasalazine.

Clifton Bingham, III, MD

Professor of Medicine
Director - Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center

Primary Sidebar

Ask The Expert Topics

  • Alternative Therapies
  • Ankylosing Spondylitis
  • Associated With Other Illnesses
  • Bursitis and Tendinitis
  • Corticosteroids
  • Diet and Exercise
  • Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)
  • Enteropathic Arthritis
  • Fibromyalgia
  • General Arthritis
  • Gout, Pseudogout, Other
  • Infectious Arthritis
  • Myositis
  • Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Osteonecrosis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Polymyalgia Rheumatica
  • Psoriatic Arthritis
  • Reactive Arthritis
  • Regional Pain: Back and Neck
  • Rehabilitation
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis
  • Surgical Therapy
  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
  • Systemic Sclerosis
  • Vasculitis
RheumTV Logo

Rheum.TV is an informational platform created to educate patients living with a rheumatic disease. With over 100 disease education videos produced by the team at Johns Hopkins Rheumatology.

Visit Rheum.TV

Footer

Johns Hopkins Rheumatology

  • Johns Hopkins Rheumatology
  • Johns Hopkins Lupus Center
  • Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center
  • Johns Hopkins Myositis Center
  • Johns Hopkins Scleroderma Center
  • Johns Hopkins Sjögren’s Syndrome Center
  • Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Johns Hopkins Medicine

© 2023 Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center
Patient Privacy