Re: intro and remicade question

[Guest guest]

Hi Beth -

Welcome to the group from another Beth. I was diagnosed about 5 1/2

years ago, and spent 2 years on Enbrel before switching to

Remicade. I made the switch because Enbrel stopped working for me,

and didn't have huge success with Remicade. It didn't start working

for me until after the 3rd infusion, and then quit working by the

7th or 8th one.

On the other hand - I had no side effects at all from Remicade, and

actually enjoyed the experience since there were always several of

us getting infused at the same time. I always brought things to

read and spent most of the time talking with the other patients.

I hope it works for you - best of luck!

Beth

> hello all!

>

> I've been lurking for a few weeks now.... I'm Beth and I've had RA

> for 15 years. I've been on Enbrel for the past 4 years, and now,

> this week, I will be starting Remicade. I've been struggling w/ a

> very bad case of scleritis and living on major doses of

prednisone...

> and my opthamalogist says that remicade seems to have a pretty

good

> track record in dealing w/ the eye problems. So, I'm going to

give

> it a try.

>

> My questions are: What side effects have you experienced? How

long

> does it take to " kick in " ?

>

> Thanks for your help and shared wisdom!

>

> Now, back to lurking

>

> Beth

[Guest guest]

Hi Pat,

After failing Enbrel and Remicade, I'm currently on Kineret. We

decided to try it since it works against a different thing (IL-1)

then Enbrel, Remicade and Humira (which work against TNF). I also

changed from Methotrexate to 10 mg Arava a couple of months ago to

see if that helps. I'm also on 10 mg of Prenisone daily, which I

desperately want to lower or drop, but haven't been able to (I was

down to 6 mg earlier in the year but had to up it again).

My rheumy has mentioned that I'm running out of options, which is a

real concern. One thing that has started to help is that I cut back

my work hours about 3 weeks ago. I had been working around 10+

hours / day for the past 5 months (just your normal corporate full

time schedule) and I had my doc put me on reduced hours at 6 per

day. I do feel more rested and relaxed, and my life feels better in

balance. I haven't been able to cut back on the drugs yet, but

hopefully that will come. I enjoy my job, and carry the family

benefits so it's important that I work, but I really hope I can stay

at 6 hours for good - it really is nice!

How is Remicade working for you? Have you tried anything else?

Beth

> > hello all!

> >

> > I've been lurking for a few weeks now.... I'm Beth and I've

had RA

> > for 15 years. I've been on Enbrel for the past 4 years, and

now,

> > this week, I will be starting Remicade. I've been struggling

w/ a

> > very bad case of scleritis and living on major doses of

> prednisone...

> > and my opthamalogist says that remicade seems to have a pretty

> good

> > track record in dealing w/ the eye problems. So, I'm going to

> give

> > it a try.

> >

> > My questions are: What side effects have you experienced?

How

> long

> > does it take to " kick in " ?

> >

> > Thanks for your help and shared wisdom!

> >

> > Now, back to lurking

> >

> > Beth

>

>

>