Enbrel - Arthritis Message Board

brenda13 · 10-29-2007, 10:04 AM

Hi, to those of you taking or considering taking Enbrel. I have been using this drug for 2 years and it has worked wonderfully for me.

Prior to Enbrel I was on metholtrexate, Arava?, plaquenil, and other drugs. The combination of drugs I was taking made me very ill. Anything and everything I ate just went right through me, I loss a lot of weight and felt absolutly terrible. Plus I had to keep up the pretense of going to work each and every day.

It was extremely hard to get motivated to do anything.

The Enbrel took a bit of getting use to giving myself a needle as I have that fear. But since they have come out with the Sureclik, it is much easier.

I still take the plaquenil, and celebrex, and still have my moments, but way better than I have been in a lot of years.

Venusrose · 10-30-2007, 06:04 AM

Im so glad that the enbrel is working so good for you & that your getting relief

i like the sure click better myself (although 1st time i did it when needle went in i let the pressure up a lil & the needle stopped dispensing i didnt even get half a shot my 1st time, i finally got the groove of it & my 3 month supply ran out so my dr contacted my mail order pharmacy with another 3 month refill & someone screwed up they gave me the pre filled needles, now mind ya i take insulin & byetta also so needles dont phase me but ugh i find the prefilled needles to be a more painful injection then the sure click, you know darn well next refill imma make sure dr writes for sure click

Good luck & take care

brenda13 · 10-30-2007, 09:29 AM

Yes, the previous time they made an error and I didn't realize until I got home and gave me the pre-filled syringes.....not well made.....and a couple of them, the needle was actually bent on a slight angle.

I found with the pre-filled syringes that the needle was not as fine as the needles supplies with the twice weekly dosage you had to mix, and at that time before the sure click went back to the twice weekly shot just because of the difference in the needle size.

I made darn sure I got the sure click the next time.

Also I have found if you do not let the medication warm up enough, it stings like heck.

All the best

itp78 · 11-01-2007, 02:56 PM

been on enbrel for 15 months. it seemed to work great at first but i have slipped back to having arthritic pain and swelling for 2 months. may have caused a drop in my platelet count but my hemotologist was unable to confirm. i don't plan on giving up on the drug yet. i have heard some people notice a decrease in enbrel's effectiveness.

Venusrose · 11-02-2007, 10:28 AM

This might sound crazy but the night b4 my shot is due is when my hands hurt the worst... (wonder if its a mental thing... knowing its time for a dose next day & mind says u hurt cause meds are running out?

Anybody have that happen?