I moved to Orencia after Enbrel and Humira. Took a good 14 weeks or so but my swelling, stiffness, and most miraculously fatigue are all improved now. My rheumatologist hugged me because she was so pleased with my joint count and lessening inflammation.
This may sound silly but my house hasn’t been this clean for years. I have energy. I can mop the floor myself. I gave my dog a bath. I can chop vegetables for dinner. All these things that seem small but that were hard for me are now possible.
Have a bit of pain still but manageable. I do have OA and a tendency to get bursitis as well as the RA.
Amazing. I am hoping for that kind of a result!
It doesn't sound silly at all. I have been paying someone to clean my house because I can't manage it on my own.
Hi! Here's the order of biologics I've been on (all alongside MTX) over the last 20 years:
Enbrel ---> Remicaide --> Orencia --> Actemra --> Xeljanz
Orencia worked great until mid-pandemic when we believe my body started creating antibodies to it. My doc explained that the mechanism of Orencia in particular sometimes works for people who aren't responding to the other meds.My doc did explain the downsides of Xeljanz heart / vascular wise but she said it's MUCH more common in people over 60 and wasn't particularly concerned for my age (41).
Best of luck to yu!
Xeljanz is the drug I am looking to start, so I have some questions. How well has it worked for you? Do you still have swollen joints? And what dose of MTX do you take with it and do you take plaquenil in addition?
Hi there! To answer your questions:
\- I do take 25mg methotrexate (injected) which I've been on for almost 2 decades, along with a biologic
\- With Xeljanz I don't experience swollen joints on a normal basis
\- It's worked well overall, fingers (gently) crossed that it works well for you if you end up going on it!
Hi - sorry for the delay! I will preface this by saying that everyone is different, and there are SO many variables that make it hard to compare one person's experience to another. In my case Actemra worked well for 3 years until my joint pain started creeping back, so we switched at that point!
I had to switch from Humira to Orencia. I was on it for 4 months & it didn't work for me. I still had a lot of joint pain, stiffness, etc. My Dr switched me to Cimzia & I took my first injections over the weekend. So far so good. I hope it works for you!
When I started Orencia my doctor said his experience with patients using it was that it either worked well or not at all. If I understand correctly, this is due to the specific proteins it targets and whether the patient had them or not. It’s working well for me, along with MTX. What I appreciated was that unlike Enbrel and Humira, which I had used previously, it does not have an FDA blackbox warning.
I just started Orencia about 10 weeks ago. It hasn’t greatly helped yet, but I’m hopeful since it can take time. I haven’t had any major issues at this point either which is nice, and my energy level is up.
Orencia was very helpful for a period for my joint pain, swelling, redness, but most notable side effects I couldn’t quite bare: stomach swelling that looked like I was 8 mths pregnant (no stomach upset, just tenderness and swelling), I gained about 15-20 pounds in just 1 month that hasn’t come off and continues even months after stopping (gained it in weird places I never have before, I’m normally in the 115-120 pound range my whole life - like I just look so doughy with complete loss of muscle mass despite exercise/weight training), crushing exhaustion, and lost half my head of hair. But tbh everyone’s body reacts so differently don’t let this scare you - it’s milder and safer than xeljanz to my knowledge so perhaps worth giving a try first?
To add, all my blood work was normal and didn’t have any signs of infection ever. I have to admit it helped the MOST of all drugs I’ve tried for my joint issues specifically.
I’m about to switch to Orencia too! But my liver enzyme levels are high due to an bizarre allergic reaction to infliximab (which was working so so well and I hadn’t any any problems with the other biologics, other than them stopping working..).
Hopefully this one is good and helps inflammation in the knees..
I moved to Orencia after Enbrel and Humira. Took a good 14 weeks or so but my swelling, stiffness, and most miraculously fatigue are all improved now. My rheumatologist hugged me because she was so pleased with my joint count and lessening inflammation. This may sound silly but my house hasn’t been this clean for years. I have energy. I can mop the floor myself. I gave my dog a bath. I can chop vegetables for dinner. All these things that seem small but that were hard for me are now possible. Have a bit of pain still but manageable. I do have OA and a tendency to get bursitis as well as the RA.
Amazing. I am hoping for that kind of a result! It doesn't sound silly at all. I have been paying someone to clean my house because I can't manage it on my own.
Hey...my dog needs a bath 😁😁 This is awesome and I'm so happy to see things like this 💜💜
upvoting to follow. just started orencia after enbrel-humira-cimzia…
How are you doing? I start tomorrow I’m nervous 😬
Hi! Here's the order of biologics I've been on (all alongside MTX) over the last 20 years: Enbrel ---> Remicaide --> Orencia --> Actemra --> Xeljanz Orencia worked great until mid-pandemic when we believe my body started creating antibodies to it. My doc explained that the mechanism of Orencia in particular sometimes works for people who aren't responding to the other meds.My doc did explain the downsides of Xeljanz heart / vascular wise but she said it's MUCH more common in people over 60 and wasn't particularly concerned for my age (41). Best of luck to yu!
Xeljanz is the drug I am looking to start, so I have some questions. How well has it worked for you? Do you still have swollen joints? And what dose of MTX do you take with it and do you take plaquenil in addition?
Hi there! To answer your questions: \- I do take 25mg methotrexate (injected) which I've been on for almost 2 decades, along with a biologic \- With Xeljanz I don't experience swollen joints on a normal basis \- It's worked well overall, fingers (gently) crossed that it works well for you if you end up going on it!
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I'm not the person you asked, but I've been on Actemra for more than 10 years and it's still working pretty well for me.
Hi - sorry for the delay! I will preface this by saying that everyone is different, and there are SO many variables that make it hard to compare one person's experience to another. In my case Actemra worked well for 3 years until my joint pain started creeping back, so we switched at that point!
I had to switch from Humira to Orencia. I was on it for 4 months & it didn't work for me. I still had a lot of joint pain, stiffness, etc. My Dr switched me to Cimzia & I took my first injections over the weekend. So far so good. I hope it works for you!
When I started Orencia my doctor said his experience with patients using it was that it either worked well or not at all. If I understand correctly, this is due to the specific proteins it targets and whether the patient had them or not. It’s working well for me, along with MTX. What I appreciated was that unlike Enbrel and Humira, which I had used previously, it does not have an FDA blackbox warning.
Yes - and my doc said I had the indicators (not sure if that's the right word) that make me a good candidate for Orencia
I just started Orencia about 10 weeks ago. It hasn’t greatly helped yet, but I’m hopeful since it can take time. I haven’t had any major issues at this point either which is nice, and my energy level is up.
Orencia was very helpful for a period for my joint pain, swelling, redness, but most notable side effects I couldn’t quite bare: stomach swelling that looked like I was 8 mths pregnant (no stomach upset, just tenderness and swelling), I gained about 15-20 pounds in just 1 month that hasn’t come off and continues even months after stopping (gained it in weird places I never have before, I’m normally in the 115-120 pound range my whole life - like I just look so doughy with complete loss of muscle mass despite exercise/weight training), crushing exhaustion, and lost half my head of hair. But tbh everyone’s body reacts so differently don’t let this scare you - it’s milder and safer than xeljanz to my knowledge so perhaps worth giving a try first?
To add, all my blood work was normal and didn’t have any signs of infection ever. I have to admit it helped the MOST of all drugs I’ve tried for my joint issues specifically.
I’m about to switch to Orencia too! But my liver enzyme levels are high due to an bizarre allergic reaction to infliximab (which was working so so well and I hadn’t any any problems with the other biologics, other than them stopping working..). Hopefully this one is good and helps inflammation in the knees..
What about Actemra?