What Are the Side Effects of DMARDs Used in RA?

Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs in rheumatoid arthritis can have some serious side effects and this need to be monitored for very closely by the rheumatologist who is treating you. We can't generalize and say that they all as a class have a particular side effect, but there're certain ones that we see with some consistency and that's probably the main one.

It's probably Immunol suppression. So your immune system maybe suppressed somewhat when you take these medicines, which can increase your risk for infection. And then class by class in terms of different biologics, therapies et cetera There are different side effects that we monitor more closely for, for example reactivation of tuberculosis, cancers, lupus like syndromes, multiple sclerosis type of syndromes, and again these tend to be class specific so it of course is the responsibility of the treating dermatologist to explain these potential side effects to you and monitor for them.