{"id":16336,"date":"2021-12-06T10:13:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T10:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeepedia.com\/?p=16336"},"modified":"2021-12-09T07:08:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T07:08:32","slug":"leflunomide-medac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeepedia.com\/medical\/medicines\/leflunomide-medac\/","title":{"rendered":"Leflunomide medac – Leflunomide uses, dose and side effects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
What Leflunomide medac is and what it is used for<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Leflunomide medac belongs to a group of medicines called anti-rheumatic medicines. Leflunomide medac contains the active substance leflunomide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leflunomide medac is used to treating adult patients with active\u00a0rheumatoid arthritis\u00a0or with active psoriatic arthritis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Symptoms of\u00a0rheumatoid arthritis\u00a0include\u00a0inflammation\u00a0of the joints, swelling, difficulty moving, and pain.\u00a0Other symptoms that can affect the whole body include decreased appetite, fever, decreased energy, and\u00a0anemia\u00a0(lack of\u00a0red blood cells\u00a0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis include inflammation of the joints, swelling, difficulty moving and pain, and red and scaly patches on the skin (skin damage).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What you need to know before using Leflunomide medac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Do not use Leflunomide medac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
if you have ever had an allergic<\/strong> reaction to leflunomide (especially a severe skin reaction, often accompanied by fever, joint pain, red spots on the skin or blisters, such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome), peanuts, soy or any of the other ingredients in it medicines (listed in section 6), or if you are allergic to teriflunomide (used to treat multiple sclerosis ).<\/li>
if you have liver problems<\/strong> ,<\/li>
if you have moderate to severe renal impairment<\/strong> ,<\/li>
if you have a sharp drop in your blood protein (egg white) concentration<\/strong> (hypoproteinemia),<\/li>
if you suffer from a disease that weakens your immune system<\/strong> (ex AIDS ),<\/li>
if you have impaired bone marrow function<\/strong> or if the number of red or white blood cells or platelet counts is low,<\/li>
if you suffer from a serious infection<\/strong> ,<\/li>
if you are pregnant<\/strong> , think you may be pregnant or breast-feeding.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Warnings and cautions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Talk to your doctor, pharmacist, or nurse before using Leflunomide medac<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if you have ever had inflammation<\/strong> of the lungs<\/strong> (interstitial lung disease).<\/strong><\/li>
if you have ever had tuberculosis<\/strong> or if you have been in close contact with someone who has or has had tuberculosis. Your doctor may take samples to see if you have tuberculosis .<\/li>
if you are a man<\/strong> and want to have children. As it can not be ruled out that Leflunomide medac passes into the semen, reliable contraception should be used during treatment with Leflunomide medac. Men wishing to have children should contact their doctor who may advise them to discontinue treatment with Leflunomide medac and take certain medications to quickly remove Leflunomide medac from the body. A blood test will confirm that Leflunomide medac has been adequately excreted. After that, you should wait at least another 3 months before trying to have children.<\/li>
if you are going to take a specific blood test (calcium level). Measurements can show falsely low calcium levels.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Leflunomide medac can affect your blood, liver, lungs, or nerves in your arms or legs.\u00a0Leflunomide medac may also cause severe allergic reactions (including drug reaction with\u00a0eosinophilia\u00a0and systemic symptoms [DRESS]), or increase the risk of developing serious\u00a0infections.\u00a0For further information, see section 4 (Possible\u00a0side effects\u00a0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DRESS initially appears with\u00a0flu-like symptoms\u00a0and rashes on the face, followed by widespread rashes and high fever, increased liver enzyme levels seen in blood tests, and an increase in a type of\u00a0white blood cell\u00a0(\u00a0eosinophilia\u00a0) and enlarged\u00a0lymph nodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your doctor will regularly take\u00a0blood samples<\/strong>, before and during treatment with Leflunomide medac to check your blood and your liver.\u00a0Your doctor will also regularly check your\u00a0blood pressure\u00a0as Leflunomide medac may cause high\u00a0blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell your doctor if you have diarrhea that lasts for a long time for no particular reason. Your doctor may need to perform additional tests to find out what this is causing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children and young people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Leflunomide medac is not recommended for use in children and adolescents below 18 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other medicines and Leflunomide medac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken, or might take any other medicines.\u00a0This also applies to over-the-counter medicines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is especially important if you are using:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
other drugs for rheumatoid arthritis<\/strong> such as antimalarial drugs (eg chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine); intramuscular or oral gold, D penicillamine, azathioprine and other immunosuppressive drugs (eg methotrexate) as these combinations are not recommended.<\/li>
warfarin and other oral blood thinners, as controls are necessary to reduce the risk of side effects from this medicine<\/li>
teriflunomide in multiple sclerosis<\/li>
repaglinide, pioglitazone, nateglinide or rosiglitazone in diabetes<\/li>