Anyone taking this? How long did it take for it to take effect with you? What is your diagnosis? What other meds do you take?
I just started 2 weeks ago, also take NSAIDs, prednisone, plaquenil, flexeril, and tylenol 3. I have Eosinophilic Fasciitis, but also sometimes float between scleroderma and lupus. I’m hoping the Enbrel will help & I can lower my prednisone, it is not my favorite…
Sorry to reply to my own post, but is anyone taking any of the injectable RA meds?? Yesterday, after my mornign shower, I noticed two very red patches on each leg. At first I worried because it looked like psoriasis, which my Dad has. Then I realized both patches were right where I had injected. They don’t bother me much, but did get a bit itchy last night. I was sort of surprised, because I didn’t have any reaction at all except for a tiny bruise after the first shot, and nothing at all after the 2nd, and the rashes appeared 6 days after the 2nd injection, at both sites…
Anyway, some of the things online said some of these little reactions should go away with time…
I take Humira - and I do get a red spot at the injection site, maybe about the diameter of a quarter. I have psoriatic arthritis, and also take the Rheumatrex. I don’t get a rash, it’s just red, it usually lasts about 3 or 4 days, and it appears immediately after injection.
If you are prone to psoriasis, it is possible to get patches at injection sites, but I have never had that happen. Since your dad has psoriasis, it is possible that you do as well - though it’s more common on the elbows, knees, shins, etc.
My father and sister have Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of RA. They take Embrel and it’s made a huge difference for them.
Loved it!
I have RA, fibromyalgia, sjogren’s syndrome…amongst other things.
I took Enbrel for 2 years and LOVED it - did so well I was considered “a near remission”, but then I plateaued. So Rheumatologist had me stop using it and went back to Methotrexate injectible (which I hate, but seems to help some.)
I used to get a huge, round “bug bite” about 5" across from the Enbrel, but it wasn’t a problem and Rheumatologist said not to worry. No other side effects.
I’m now back to Methotrexate injectible (20mg) - that leaves a small bruise/red spot, but no rash. Other side effects for me include: hair falling out, extreme fatigue, dizziness, horrific nausea (helped Majorly by Leucovor)
Asked my Rheumatologist to try Enbrel again, but he wants to go to full does Mtx (25) before trying that again b/c I’m “in my childbearing years”…
Tried Humira, but it did nothing, other than leave a small rash on my injection site… No side effects.
I’m allergic to Plaquenil…found out the hard way!!
Covered head to toe (from bottom feed to inside my mouth and nose) with bee-sting-like lesions…OWWWWW! (ewww! too!)
[QUOTE=kmbhoya2000;5545867]
Sorry to reply to my own post, but is anyone taking any of the injectable RA meds?? Yesterday, after my mornign shower, I noticed two very red patches on each leg. At first I worried because it looked like psoriasis, which my Dad has. Then I realized both patches were right where I had injected. They don’t bother me much, but did get a bit itchy last night. I was sort of surprised, because I didn’t have any reaction at all except for a tiny bruise after the first shot, and nothing at all after the 2nd, and the rashes appeared 6 days after the 2nd injection, at both sites…
Anyway, some of the things online said some of these little reactions should go away with time…[/QUOTE]
Does your rheumatologist know your dad has psoriasis? Because you can get psoriatic arthritis with no skin symptoms and there’s a definite genetic component to psoriasis. So it’s important to mention - sometimes they don’t think to ask.
(RA and PA can look a lot alike - but some of the treatments are a bit different, some stuff that works really well for RA doesn’t work much at all for PA, so that’s mostly why it’s worth mentioning. Make sure you don’t end up trying things that weren’t ever going to work in the first place. 
)
Anyway, I have PA and I’ve never been on Enbrel - I prefer Methotrexate right now because it works for me and I like to stick with something as long as it’s working - but MTX does take a while to really start working - probably on the order of a couple months to really kick in to the point where you go ‘oh my god, I feel SO MUCH BETTER.’
Loved it!
I have RA, fibromyalgia, sjogren’s syndrome…amongst other things.
I took Enbrel for 2 years and LOVED it - did so well I was considered “a near remission”, but then I plateaued. So Rheumatologist had me stop using it and went back to Methotrexate injectible (which I hate, but seems to help some.)
I used to get a huge, round “bug bite” about 5" across from the Enbrel, but it wasn’t a problem and Rheumatologist said not to worry. No other side effects.
I’m now back to Methotrexate injectible (20mg) - that leaves a small bruise/red spot, but no rash. Other side effects for me include: hair falling out, extreme fatigue, dizziness, horrific nausea (helped Majorly by Leucovor)
Asked my Rheumatologist to try Enbrel again, but he wants to go to full does Mtx (25) before trying that again b/c I’m “in my childbearing years”…
Tried Humira, but it did nothing, other than leave a small rash on my injection site… No side effects.
I’m allergic to Plaquenil…found out the hard way!!
Covered head to toe (from bottom feed to inside my mouth and nose) with bee-sting-like lesions…OWWWWW! (ewww! too!)
Thanks for your responses! My doctor does know that my Dad has Psoriasis. The 2 rashes on my legs are almost gone, now have one on my stomach where I did the last one. But it’s definitely not as bad as the first 2…
I’m hoping it will help, the disease I have is very rare, and I really don’t follow what was known about it, and I sometimes have lupus-like symptoms, and sometimes have more scleroderma-like symptoms. I am on plaquenil, which luckily I am not allergic to, and prednisone, which I really don’t like taking. One option at my last visit was to increase my prednisone again, but I wanted to try something different, because the prednisone doesn’t make me feel much better, and I cannot sleep at all when I increase it…
This Thursday will be my 4th dose of Enbrel, so hopefully soon I will see some positive changes, fingers crossed!!
I’ve been using Enbrel for about two years. I think its helped, but I also think I get greater relief from prednisone. I have RA/lupus. I sometimes get a red spot and slight itch where I inject, sometimes a bruise.
I have RA and I used to take Enbrel. It worked amazingly well while it did work for me and took effect pretty quickly (in about 6 weeks I think? For full effect…). I did get very large bug bite like thinkgs around my injection sites (very large…) that were pretty itchy, but they weren’t enough for my doctor to take me off it or for me to decide to stop taking it. Unfortunately I built up immunity to the Enbrel very quickly (within 6 months) but while it worked it was fantastic. I took it at the same time as methotrexate and started with prednisone, but eased off the prednisone as the enbrel kicked in.
I also tried Humira but that never really worked for me. I have used a couple infused meds now and one worked a little but not enough to stay with, the next I was badly allergic to, and now we are trying another. I still do injected Methotrexate, prednisone on and off and a variety of other things for comorbid conditions…not sure if that helps but feel free to PM me if you have questions
Thanks for your posts! My spots were bery large too, but really not bad, now that I know they’ll go away! Did you have a hard time with methotrexate? My doctor is trying to hold off on that in case DH and I have any more kids…not that we’re planning to right now…
I’m just so tired of the prednisone, I’ve been taking it for 18 years. And I’m just tired of being tired and owie!!
I struggled a bit with oral methotrexate. It made me pretty sick for about a day. However, it doesn’t do that to everybody and the higher the dose the more likely it is (my dad-well father in law but we don’t use the term has ra too and uses enbrel and methotrexate with basically no side effects at all). I take it with folic acid per doctor instructions (pretty srtandard) and that reduces some other side effects you may hear about.
I do much better on injected methotrexate (especially since I am nearly maxed out on dosage and it increases absorption while reducing the side effects that were worst for me)- just had to get over my horrible fear of needles! Though I use insulin needles so they are short and tiny and you barely feel them. Even I, a confirmed needle wimp, can handle self injecting with those.
I couldn’t handle beong on prednisone that long :eek: I get super evil when I’m on it and feel really out of control…add to that weight gain, reduced calcium abosrption, and that it keeps me awake no matter how tired I am…its like constant PMS but worsewhen I am on it- I only take it when I am absolutely desperate…I hope you can get off it soon! jingles!
I am hoping that if the Enbrel works that I’ll be able to lower the prednisone. I don’t sleep with it. I am ok once I get down to 5 mg, but anything above that, there’s no sleeping…and with that on top of fatigue from being sick, it’s no fun!! And I do have osteopenia, which stinks…I exercise a tone, and in the last 2 years have started using weights a lot, so I am hoping my next scan might be a little better…
Thanks!!
My methotrexate is oral (20 mg)- and I am great with it (if you don’t mind a little hair loss!). When I first started, I would get a little queasy if I hadn’t eaten, but as long as I had food in me, it was fine. Because of some insurance issues, I was off the all medications for about 6 months. My psoriasis was off the charts bad, and I was feeling twinges in my joints. Within 4 days of starting the methotrexate, my skin was almost completely clear. Since I only take Humira for the psoriasis, I am hoping to skip it for a while. If the last time is any indication, I will have about 5 months of clear skin, then I will have to start taking something for my skin again.
When I was on prednisone, I did learn that it upsets your sleeping patterns. I would take it when I woke up, and I found myself waking up about 1/2 hour earlier every day - my body was jonesing for a hit, so I would have to take it at the same time, no matter what time I woke up. But I did sleep well.
I heard a report on questionable medical tests that indicated that a ridiculously large percent of women will test positively for osteopenia, even though they aren’t in danger from it. (Sort of like getting a report of osteopenia is like having your doctor tell you that if you have bones, you have a higher risk of osteoporosis.) People were getting frightened for nothing. Here’s the link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121609815
:lol: definitely some hair loss with the methotrexate! I love how you put it Doberpei! I have super long hair (though I donated a bunch of it when my symptoms were terrible thinking it would make my life easier…it didn’t…I just looked weird) and my poor DH has to clean our drains rather frequently unfortunately. But I just stay cautious about not damaging my hair much in other ways and taking good care of it and you probably can’t tell much difference unless you saw happened to notice the trail of hair I leave everywhere 
I think most people do just fine with oral doses and they can be split as well so if the full dose all at once isn’t good you can do some in the morning and some in the evening or some one day and more the next or something. I think since I have stomach issues already that may have been part of why it made me so sick…
Thanks for posting that article. It was very interesting. I am well aware of how the medical business works, between the physicians, pharmaceuticals, insurance companies, etc. I do have a very realy cooncern however, as the amounts of prednisone that I have been on for over 18 years puts me at great risk. Especially since my bone mass has never been “normal” since I started testing, and has only decreased through my 20s, a time when it should be increasing. I have also had fracturs of both shoulder blades, and several ribs, and with 2 little boys that I want to be able to keep up with, I will do everything I can to keep my body in the best shape that I can, however I need to…
I understand about the prednisone degrading bones, and it sounds like you do need to be careful. I know that my rheumatologist wouldn’t let me stay on prednisone for too long for just that reason.
My husband was on Enbrel for a clinical trial and he says it made him feel great! He was able to get off methotrexate, pred and cyclophosphamide while on Enbrel. He’s been in remission since. If he has a relapse, I think Enbrel will be his first choice as it really made him feel good. He has Wegeners granulomatosis.
Try icing your injection site for about 15 min. before you inject. that’s what I was told to do when I was on it and had site reactions. Worked for me!
I was on Enbrel for Psoriasis, and it worked. Unfortunately i lost my job and no longer have insurance and as we know Enbrel is insanely expensive. Would go on it again in a heartbeat.
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