Use of carbazones as novel active ingredients in medicaments

A method of treating disorders of the rheumatoid type, which comprises administering to a warm-blooded organism requiring treatment a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of formula I ##STR3## wherein X and Y are each independently of the other thio or sulfynyl, R.sub.1 is lower alk-2-en-1-yl, lower alk-3-en-2-yl, lower alk-2-yn-1-yl, or lower alkyl that is substituted in the 2,3-position by radicals that can be eliminated to form a double bond, R.sub.2 is hydrogen and R.sub.3 is unsubstituted methyl or methyl substituted by a radical that can be eliminated together with hydrogen R.sub.2 to form a double bond, or R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are each hydrogen or lower alkyl or together are methylene, R.sub.4 is free or protected hydroxy, or hydrogen, and R.sub.5 is hydrogen, lower alkyl, lower alk-2-en-1-yl, lower alk-2-yn-1-yl, or lower alkyl that is substituted in the 2,3-position by radicals that can be eliminated to form a double bond, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.