My Enbrel Experience

My first biological drug was Enbrel.  It was quite the fight to get my Rheumy to finally agree to put me on something.  Here in Australia you have to show a certain percentage of improvement while on a biological drug in order for Medicare to allow you to stay on it.  At the time my CRP had dropped down to about 16. My Rheumy was convinced that it would never drop lower than that, even while on a biological drug.  After a month of going back and forth I finally convinced him that I needed something and he agreed to put me on Enbrel.  I have to say that at the time I went on the Enbrel my CRP had gone back up to 26.  I had to show an improvement of 20% within the first 5 months.

At the time I didn't know a lot about the biologicals and was absolutely terrified.  After a few days of research I was ready to scream.  I was convinced that Enbrel would kill me, yes funny I know.  At the time though I was so desperate for some kind of relief that I just wanted something.  I wanted to feel better.  I am sure everyone with RA knows that feeling at some stage.

So I was approved to go onto Enbrel.  When you are approved, again here in Australia, your Rheumy will call you into the office and arrange for a nurse to teach you how to do the shot yourself.  At least this is how my Rheumy handles things.  So I was given a few minutes of a lesson.  The whole day I had managed to work myself up to quite the panic.  So I gave myself my first shot, and got very light headed, my blood pressure spiked cause of how panicked the whole thing made me.  Truth is I had a good experience on Enbrel.  After just a couple of shots I was doing much better.  My bloods improved and I was actually able to wear heels again.  I know silly :-).

Now I had some negative reactions while on Enbrel.  I had such bad migraines that I was ready to call it quits on the drug and go on my merry way.  My husband convinced me that I should try and stick it out. I called the Rheumy who told me the headaches would be self regulating and I would most likely get used to everything.  She didn't listen to what I had to say and I was left feeling pretty frustrated.  In the end the headaches did ease up some, and honestly it probably was worth it to have some time while I was able to be somewhat normal.  After about nine months on it though it quit working.

So in a nutshell I had a fairly good experience but it didn't work for long.  And really the only bad or negative side effect I had was the migraines.  I also gained some weight while on the drug.  I am not sure how that happened since I was eating a whole lot but I did stack on about 10 Kilos.

http://www.enbrel.com/index.jspx

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/enbrel-side-effects.html

I listed two web pages you can go to visit for information.