Diary of a wimp on Enbrel!

[sam g]

Hi Ellieh

I am new to this forum but not to this awful skin condition I have had it now for 10 years came out of the blue and never went away.  I am also on biologics and started with embrel a couple of years back, as with you it did nothing for me in fact it made mine worse don't suffer get back to your dermatologist.  I have also taken infliximab which is the drip that was great for the first eight-ten months then it came back, next was humera which i was taking until just recently i have now started stelara as of yet it hasn't made much difference, but only been on it a few weeks.  Chin up I know how bad it is I like you am mostly covered in the horrible stuff looks like i have third degree burns. Here is hoping our treatments start to work soon.

[ellieh]

Well I'm now into week 5, did my 9th injection last night, tried doing it much higher up right at the top of my stomach, funnily enough it didn't seem to hurt as much, just waiting to see what sort of a reaction I get there as I'm getting extremely fed up with enormous site reactions, i've sort of decided to give it until I've had the 6 weeks the derm said it could take to see some results and if not then I'll go and force my way in to see her again and complain, I really don't see the point of filling myself with this drug if it's not going to work 

[ellieh]

It's funny reading back through this how my mood changes from one extreme to the other with each post 
I'm happy again today, just done injection number 10, last Friday I discovered antihistamines and what a difference they seem to be making to the site reactions, wish I had taken them earlier 
My arms seem to be looking better, the p doesn't feel as raised and it is looking more pink than red. Could be down to the religious moisturising but I'm hoping this may mean it's finally kicking in 

[babyblue]

It's funny reading back through this how my mood changes from one extreme to the other with each post 
I'm happy again today, just done injection number 10, last Friday I discovered antihistamines and what a difference they seem to be making to the site reactions, wish I had taken them earlier 
My arms seem to be looking better, the p doesn't feel as raised and it is looking more pink than red. Could be down to the religious moisturising but I'm hoping this may mean it's finally kicking in 

Delighted for you Ellie !  Hope you continue to improve and can wave P  off on its merry journey! 
Hugs
BB

[ellieh]

Well, I've got to the 6 week mark now. I'm still getting site reactions but they're more reasonable now, only about half the size of my hand and not so itchy so I'm not needing the antihistamines now, just chucking some Fucibet on for a couple of days. The P. Well, the flare didn't get too out of hand, things have calmed down at last. None of it has disappeared but it hasn't got any worse over the last week or so, hardly any flakes and it's flattened out very slighty. I would say I am back to where I was on the MTX, it's not getting any worse but it's not getting any better either. 6 weeks exactly til I'm due for derm review, still hoping things get better as I don't suppose cost-wise they will allow me to continue if it doesn't give more results than the MTX.

[Pieman]

go enbrel go !!!! hoping the next 6 weeks bring on a massive change for you ellie

[ellieh]

Haven't updated in a while, I have had to skip the last 2 jabs due to some sort of flu thing which may or may not actually be strep throat, they put me on the 3 day antibiotics which I finish this afternoon and have been told to 'use my own common sense' to decide whether I feel up to doing tomorrow's injection or not, I've been told the 2 drugs won't interact but it's up to me whether to do it or not. Very helpful. Just when it was starting to do something I had to skip some, great  and of course even if there wasn't much improvement to see having skipped a couple has made me start flaking again. Mind you at least the rest has left me with more choice of where to inject once I start again, all the site reactions have had a chance to calm down 

[ellieh]

OUCH ******************************* (insert expletives)

Just done jab 13, which should have been 16 but I ended up missing 3 cause whatever bug thing I caught won't go away. Still got it, cough my guts up all night, but as I haven't got any worse or had a fever or anything and my skin is starting to kick up a fuss I just went for it and did one. God it hurt, I must just have forgotten after the break but I'm sure the needles didn't sting so much before 
Running out of time now, bloods on the 20th and derm review on the 3rd of May, exactly 4 weeks to go and it had better get moving if it's going to do something more than calm the flakes. That's all it's done so far, ok as long as I moisturise religiously there's no flaking or scaling but no reduction at all in coverage, basically exactly the same results as MTX at a much higher price.

[riaY]

Every thing crossed for you sweetheart

[kat.chloe]

LOL, I have been having trouble with the injections too.  It is just ick to inject yourself, especially if it is not showing positive results.

I hope you feel better quickly.  I really hope Enbrel starts to do its thing for you before the 4 weeks are up.

I have 2 weeks left before my 3 month is up.  Here you have to show a 20% improvement to be allowed to stay on it.  I see my derm tomorrow and expect to be pulled off it.