Chronic Health Conditions Discussion and Support

Azathioprine but I lasted several years on it with no problems Funny how that is.

I went through all of them until I hit the Humira type drugs. I think I was taking Azathioprine when I got pneumonia. I was so sick and they took me off of it. For some reason after the pneumonia went away I had no RA symptoms. In fact I went about 8 years without any flares. Now my doc has said judging by the little joint damage I show that I could probably live until 130 years old before it would be worth doing something else. I am now simply taking a NSAID every day with a back up of Prednisone if I start to flare before I have to play a concert.

My maternal grandfather and his sister both had it so badly that they died from complications, my aunt from the steroids and my gf from heart and lung problems. My paternal great aunt had it as well and took gold shots for years. I was terrified when I was diagnosed with it.

Fingers crossed I can stay this way.

I hope something similar helps you too (not necessarily something like pneumonia but something else ). Lupus is hard, polymyositis I am not all that familiar with but it sounds like a difficult thing to deal with as well.