JC,
Check out RA Warrior's site. She has an article posted with comments from people who are taking it.
I hope it will give you some answers.
Kim

I'll be starting it within the next month. I'll post my experiences.

thanks guys....

did check out ra warrior's site but couldn't really find anything. i did read where she was starting to take it but that's about all i could find. i'll check again. :)

Any updates on this? Rheumy wants me to start this or Actemra as Enbrel seems to be losing its effectiveness. Thanks.

I am taking it Sue. I have been on it for a month. At first it helped a lot with the pain, I was in a constant flare, so yeah, I guess it helped a lot. I am having quite a bit of breakthrough pain today. Woke up with that both wrists broken, hard to get out of bed feeling. Of course I was fine Monday when I saw my rheumy and he released me back to work :( ugg. It is causing me SEVERE insomnia (my doctor thought it was something else, but I just read the package insert and it says causes insomnia. My cholesterol shot up and is now officially high. Dr. mentioned maybe taking something for it, I didn't disagree, but no, I won't take a cholesterol med. I've had on/off stomach pains/nausea, nothing horrid. Tuesday I had severe stomach pains, vomitting for more than 10 hours. I was in total agony. Can I say it was 100% the medication? No, but it seems to be, just not sure. I have had headaches and today I just feel weak. I've also had heart palpitations/shortness of breath several times, but doctor doesn't know what caused it, can't say it was the medicine although I've never had anything like that before. So not sure exactly what is going on and there aren't many people who take this or who post their experiences. I would like to hear from others what their experiences are.

Gosh Autoimmunity.....it doesn't sound like it's helping much. Why did you start taking this one, have you failed the others?
Sue

It is helping, just causing different problems. I failed plaquenil (didn't help), methotrexate (made me extremely il), simponi (made my white count go too low), then I tried minocycline which worked well for a while until I hit this flare in November and couldn't shake it. I started the xeljanz last month, it has helped with my pain and I had constant fatigue, but now it pushed me the other direction and I have insomnia. I really do think it helps a lot, just not sure what's going on with all the weird side effects.

been on xeljanz since 03/15.. first week it worked pretty good. 2nd week started pains in hands more prominent... also having the shortness of breath sometimes... and my stomach feels like i'm going to explode... very very bloated feeling especially after i eat. feels like my stomach is the size of a basket ball. first week the fatigue was gone. felt a little like my old self.. actually went on a couple of walks. this week i can feel a little fatigue.. less energy. i was sure hoping this medicine would help me get my old life back. i'll continue to take until i see my doc again on 4/15. taking 5mg each morning.

JCrockstar, I also had shortness of breath and I could tell my doctor was thinking I had been having anxiety attacks! No, I had been off work at the time and at home doing nothing and my heart would start racing! I've also had dizzy spells out of nowhere, insomnia and stomach pain.
Since being back at work the insomnia has finally flipped back to exhaustion (yah??? haha).

I have been on it for a month now. Was scared to death to start taking it. I am suppose to take twice a day but I only take one pill once a day with Arava, and predisone.
I go back to dr in a month waiting to see what my RA factor will be.

I wish I knew where other people's RA factor is. Mine now is 185, three months before it was 92 and I wasn't taking any of my meds prior.

I took Xeljanz for about 2 months. Was starting to help, then suddenly began to have shortness of breath and lightheadedness. R A doc doesn't think it is Xeljanz but progressively got worse. Stopped it and went to primary doc. Went to ER. After 10 days am finally feeling better as I believe drug is finally getting out of my body.

I started Xeljanz in March of 2014. It's just starting to fail me now. Absolutely loved it while it worked as I had zero negative side effects from it. At least I got a little over three years relief with it!

Xeljanx helped me tremendously for about 2 months and then all of a sudden I crashed and burned and was in horrible pain. I wish it would've kept working because when it helped, I felt amazing.