Breathing problems and itchy eyes

krustyzidane

Hi, i am 35yrs old and I have had RA for about 8-10 years. I have also been diagnosed with ost arthritis as well. I am now B12 deficient. I have tried about 7 biological treatments. Toxilizimab was the best and just got over a year out of it. It worked great then my body developed anti bodies against it. My latest one was enbrel but it never worked. I have been on methotrexate, predisinole and an anti maleria drug. I am coming off the steroids as I can't take them anymore. With my dose it has taken me a long time to get down to 5 mg and it will take me another 5 months to reduce this. I have no more treatments left and am living on painkillers. I am having some "head problems" due to the steroids and coping with things. I am on maximum strength anti depressants but they don't seem to do anything. My problem now is I am starting to have breathing problems and get very light headed and struggle to breath. Even doing very little. I am also getting very itchy eyes. Has anyone else had these problems, is it just a part of RA.

As5567

There is no such thing as no treatment left my old doctor once told me. I have always been on my "last biologic" but either a new one is approved to be used within the UK or I have gone back to older biologics that stopped working. For most of us a biologic will eventually stop working due to antibodies which from what I have been told do eventually disappear which is why I was able to re try a biologic called Humira, and it was a success for about 2 years. What other biologics have you tried as I'm sure there are more than 7 that are currently in use. If you're just currently taking pain killers AND trying to reduce the pred then I'm sure you feel awful right now, is there any medical reason why you need to fully come off the pred? There is an option to stay at a maintenance dose until your condition is stable enough to completely come off the drug, obviously you need to talk to your doctor about this as this is just advice given to me myself.

The breathing problems you describe could be down to many things, how active are you on a daily basis? For example do you spend most of the day sat down or in bed? Is this much less activity than usual? Reduction in activity will result in muscle loss and wasting making moving around much more difficult, add in the joint pain, fatigue and possibly steroid withdrawals and you have the perfect recipe to feel breathlessness and exhausted upon moving around, I think you should definitely talk to your doctor about this as its always better to be safe than sorry. I did develop lung fibrosis due to my AS causing inflammation in the actual lungs, not sure if RA can also do that but if so then I would recommend seeing your doctor just to rule out something like this or even a lingering chest infection that has not fully developed yet.

I hope your doctor can sort some treatment for you soon, if not then it may be worth asking for a second opinion as there are 100's of drugs that can be used in addition to biologics or on their own. It's just a matter of finding what works best for you.

dreamdaisy

Breathing problems and itchy eyes? Sounds like good old hay fever to me but I am not a doc. I was severely asthmatic as a child and developed hay fever in my teens. These conditions are also auto-immune and can come on at any stage of life. It may be worth your while going to see your GP. DD

bimble

I've had hay fever for 50 years caused by allergy to grass pollens. This year it's started at least 3 weeks earlier than I've ever known before, so perhaps there is a chance it's this?

scozzie

I agree with DD, it sounds like good old hay fever ... I'd strongly recommend seeing someone with a better medical knowledge than ourselves. I'm fortunate in that the pollens I'm allergic to don't seem to be found in the UK, as I've not had as many reactions since moving from Oz 13 years ago, but I'm waiting for it! Lol