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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / August 2005enbrel questions
Hi. It has been quite awhile since i posted. i have been so busy lately, i barely have time for anything. I started my enbrel injections 5 weeks ago. I still don't really feel anything. how long does it usually take to get relief? i am currently on enbrel, MTX and prednisone. any help would be appreciated. i hope everyone is fine. thanks sue > Hi. It has been quite awhile since i posted. i have been so busy > lately, i barely have time for anything. I started my enbrel injections > 5 weeks ago. I still don't really feel anything. how long does it > usually take to get relief? i am currently on enbrel, MTX and > prednisone. any help would be appreciated. i hope everyone is fine. > thanks sue My RD said three months is giving it the best chance to work. When it didn't work for me after three months we stopped it and moved on to something else. Could you maybe get a systemic cortisone injection to give you a boost until it kicks in? ~KJ kj thanks for your reply. maybe i was just being too anxious then. i was ready to just give up on it. i had heard that for some people it works after 1 injection, so i was being overly anxious. i see my rheumatologist this wednesday, so i will see what she says. thanks. sue > Hi. It has been quite awhile since i posted. i have been so busy > lately, i barely have time for anything. I started my enbrel injections > 5 weeks ago. I still don't really feel anything. how long does it > usually take to get relief? i am currently on enbrel, MTX and > prednisone. any help would be appreciated. i hope everyone is fine. > thanks sue Hi I began to feel less tired after 2-3 weeks, but it took almost 3 months for it to kick in properly for me. I do know others have found relief much quicker than that, and at first I was disappointed, but I am quite happy now. Jayne I also began to feel less tired after a few weeks, but for me it took almost 6 months for me to say my joints felt close to normal. It was around the same time I started getting good blood results back from the lab. The Enbrel once it kicked in has worked great for me. It just took a lot of patience waiting for the full effects to take hold. I'm currently on Enbrel, 15 mg MTX and 500 mg Naproxen. Elizabeth I have been puzzled by the pain I still get even though my blood figures are excellent (on Enbrel). Certainly, there is less pain than when the RA was really active, but not as little as I expected to get when it came under control again. Compared to the couple of years remission I had on sulfasalazine and the 10 or so years in remission on flenac, the pain is definitely greater. My RDs explanation which is to some extent plausible, is that when there is some swelling there is also fluid which helps to lubricate the joints. This would not apply to my years in remission tho. I suppose the other explanation is that erosion continues even tho there is some sort of remission and therefore RA eventually makes your joints osteoarthritic. All comments received with interest. PS I suppose I am inspired to write this now because I am having a bad day today ! Peter >I have been puzzled by the pain I still get even though my blood > figures are excellent (on Enbrel). Certainly, there is less pain than [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Peter Hi Peter, We all have those. IMO as the years roll by and we live each day with a pain here or a pain there the joints themselves some of them will NEVER get any better because they are too far gone. It is why you will see some of us pushing people to get control of what is taking place as soon as possible. Flares and over using a joint that has inflam.arth. going on in it just eat our joints away. Even though you will see me saying how well Enbrel works for me,,,,, I do not expect it to REPAIR my right knee or both my shoulders. They are going to hurt me for the rest of my life.... that is not Enbrels fault. It is my fault for using Methx too many years after it stopped working well for me. Harv Harv. But if enbrel wasn't on the market what else could you use. Remember, MTX was described as the 'gold standard' before the biologics became available.. Best wishes. Peter > Harv. > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Peter Yeah,,, I thought about that. Remicade for one thing and I tried it for awhile and it did do all the things Enbrel does. Keep in mind the new drug that KJ is in the trials for. It could be what we all change to in the future. Remember the way all this works,,,,, if the trials really have good results,,,, other companies will put out their own version of it. You and I will be the winner eventually. Harv the pain is most likely to be the secondary damage that occured during the past - almost as a secondary osteoarthritis as you describe. With inflammation you get stiffness - especially morning stiffness. Damage or mechanical pain occurs with activity and through the day rather than in the morning. Enbrel treats inflammatory problems and hence should reduce stiffness and swelling at source rather than symptom level. You may require analgesic or antiinflammatory treatment to treat the symptom at this stage. regards drdoc www.arthritis.co.za >I have been puzzled by the pain I still get even though my blood > figures are excellent (on Enbrel). Certainly, there is less pain than [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Peter It seems to me I heard somewhere that drdoc on-line wrote in article <dcr592$b0p$1@ctb-nnrp2.saix.net>: >the pain is most likely to be the secondary damage that occured during the >past - almost as a secondary osteoarthritis as you describe. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >drdoc >www.arthritis.co.za >>I have been puzzled by the pain I still get even though my blood >> figures are excellent (on Enbrel). Certainly, there is less pain than >> when the RA was really active, but not as little as I expected to get >> when it came under control again. Compared to the couple of years >> remission I had on sulfasalazine and the 10 or so years in remission on >> flenac, the pain is definitely greater. >> My RDs explanation which is to some extent plausible, is that when >> there is some swelling there is also fluid which helps to lubricate the >> joints. This would not apply to my years in remission tho. I suppose >> the other explanation is that erosion continues even tho there is some >> sort of remission and therefore RA eventually makes your joints >> osteoarthritic. >> All comments received with interest. Drdoc, it's so good to see you here again. You have been sorely missed. I'm sure many others will gather round to reinforce the message. :-)  SignatureDon Kirkman drdoc, It's good to see your still around. I've changed to subject line so the regualars will know you have checked in. Cooly > the pain is most likely to be the secondary damage that occured during the > past - almost as a secondary osteoarthritis as you describe. [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] >> >>Peter How nice to see our real expert back. Welcome DrDoc. Gwen > drdoc, It's good to see your still around. I've changed to subject line > so the regualars will know you have checked in. [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > >> > >>Peter Hi DrDoc! So good to see you popping in again! Hope all is well on your side of the world! Thanks for all you do and for all the help you provide so many of us here!!! Donna G drdoc, what a great surprise and pleasure to see you posting here again. I usually lurk, but I do read the group daily. Just a quick update for you about my daughters. Elena, who has JRA, is now taking Enbrel through a study at Stanford. She's supposed to be taking MTX, but is rebelling and hasn't taken it for about a month. So far, no bad results, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. She's graduated from high school and starting art school in September and will move into an apartment with her sister, Pancha. Pancha has fibromyalgia, and she is doing pretty well. Her illness is mostly under control. She recently received her Master's in Creative Writing and now has a full-time job that she loves. And that's it in a nutshell. Thank you for the kind words and encouragement you gave us at some pretty trying times. Evelyn (mother of Elena, who has JRA and Pancha, who has FMS) And how is evelyn doing??? Evelyn, weren't you in the midst of being diagnosed with some form of arthrits yourself the last time we heard from you? How about an update on YOU?!!! Donna G Hi Donna, Oh yes, I have osteoarthritis in several places, but that's not my main concern right now. I have a ruptured disk in the cervical spine, and have had two cortisone shots for it this year. The cortisone works like a charm. But after talking to the neurosurgeon, I've decided to schedule the surgery, probably in September. I want to do it while I'm still sure of health insurance, as my company is being bought by another company, and you know how that goes. But overall, I'm a very healthy and cheerful specimen, and thanks very much for asking, it's nice of you. Are you doing well now? Hoping for pain free days and slumber-filled nights for all of you, Evelyn Evelyn, Thanks so much for the update! Please let us know how you are doing and when you have a date for the surgery---- especially as the date draws nearer for your surgery. We will all want to be praying for you during that surgery and recovery time! Sure hope the surgery will do the trick for you and get you a whole lot more comfortable!!! Donna G Hi Drdoc,,,,, I can not tell you how good it is to see a post from you. It is sooo good to know that you are OK and still fighting the good fight. harv > the pain is most likely to be the secondary damage that occured during the > past - almost as a secondary osteoarthritis as you describe. [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] >> >> Peter Dr Doc. Thanks for your response. Your comment confirms my suspicions. Always an admirer of yours and of your web site. I have also been very grateful for your responses to the questions I have asked in the past. Best wishes to the author of one of (if not THE) the most patient oriented and informative rheumatological web sites around. Peter (UK) Sue and Evelyn, good to see you both back and posting. good to hear your updates. Sue, I sure hope the enbrel and MTX start working for you real soon. Have missed you being on here. Evelyn, I hope the girls do ok with their treatments and such. SignatureLove and hugs to all Good thoughts coming your way too. Squirrely Jo > Hi. It has been quite awhile since i posted. i have been so busy > lately, i barely have time for anything. I started my enbrel injections > 5 weeks ago. I still don't really feel anything. how long does it > usually take to get relief? i am currently on enbrel, MTX and > prednisone. any help would be appreciated. i hope everyone is fine. > thanks sue |
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