Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Enbrel question

aloha john

well...if i may.

first off enbrel sometimes/often takes a couple months, for some longer, to do its
basic magic, if, perhaps your one of those who will find it effecatious...at all.

there is a chart in the literature showing that amongst the foks who do respond to enbrel there are differing levels of response (this is those acr numbers); for some it's
a virtually life altering experience, for some there is 'significant' improvement, for
some only a moderating effect on the spondy monster...YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.
i've been on enbrel for nearly five years and it's not perfect; you can still have a flare of sorts and it doesn't wipe out forty+ years of badness...and well i still take pain meds,
but i take a whole lot less now and i can do some things now i once thought long in the
past life; i move better.

it hasn't killed me or stopped working yet.

third or fourth depending on how you're counting...enbrel and cortizone are the polar
opposites of medical responses...comparing them on a cost basis is specious...
cortizone knocks out your immune system and inflammation; it's a great bandaide
for someone with an out of control situation...but corizone will accelerate the loss of
calcium in your bones and, believe me, AS is a 'BONE SUCKIN'" monster...so cortizone
will actually help the spondy monster damage you- we'll all have oseoporosis if we live
long enough...but helping the process by taking steroids just seems, well, counterintuitive to me. SOMETIMES ya gots to think about being still alive twenty,
twenty-five years from now an act as if that eventuality is something your aware of.

oh, i said polar opposites, well the enbrel aTNF stuff will also knock down some of your
immune system, a GOOD THINGEE, and the enbrel, they say, doeth battle with the
spondy monster...cortizone don't.

so good luck
and keep shootin'

Sorry to hear you're not feeling the positive effects of the drug.

I took my first shot Sunday, June 21. By Tuesday I could tell the inflammation was lessening. By Wednesday I felt significantly better. By Friday I felt better than I have in years.

Might be in my head (placebo), but so far so amazing with this drug. The only downer, as warned, I feel a cold/sinus infection coming on.

Best of luck.

Hey Fonzy, i just wondered how you are getting on with your enbrel shots? I've had 8 now and have noticed so much difference, it really seems to be working. Have you had any side effects? i haven't really noticed any (blimey, it doesn't half sting though!) except for redness and swelling in the injection site, but i just feel that's a small price to pay for feeling almost like i used to. I hope you're getting on okay with it and that it's helping.
Anna

Well I'm back on Enbrel.

After being off it a month, I found I just couldn't get up in the mornings, and the nausea increased.

Have been back on it now for two weeks, and I'm not so sick in the mornings anymore.

It has also helped reduce (by around 30%) my fingers seizing up in the mornings.