Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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hands hurt like crazy...orencia?

JCRockstar
JCRockstar
seriously, since the first shot of orencia i haven't had one day out of pain and it's mainly in my hands. they feel like they've been hit with a hammer. swollen... now have developed trigger finger. terrible pain. have never experience this kind of pain before and it all started when i started on orencia 3 months ago. has anyone experience anything like this and is it possible it could be totally related to the orencia? i'm wondering if i need to stay on orencia or try another medication.... thanks!
RCross
RCross
I would definitely be calling the doctor. Doubtful that it's related to Orencia but clearly it's not working for you.
trishcorsi
trishcorsi
Not sure what orencia is for, the inflammation or for stopping the progression of RA. When my hands get like that, and they do, I have to get onto a steroid-its the only thing that helps. What I have done in the past till the steroids kick in is isolate the fingers. Make a splint and isolate the fingers. This is going to sound weird but my husband to a paint stir stick-broke it at about 4 inches, padded it and I tape it on when the trigger finger thing starts, it helps. Call your rhuemy right away and see if they will give you steroids. Trish
Dreamchaser-Linda
Dreamchaser-Linda
I had hand flares until orencia kicked in. It takes a full 6 months to start working. It's the slowest bio, because it works different than others, like humira, enbrel, etc.

If this is your first bio, I sure would talk to your rhuemy, orencia is one of the last bios to be given, when most others fail. I had tried 3, before orencia, which worked for me. But orencia took over 6 months for results and a full year to feel almost normal again.

I also wanted to quit because I seemed to get worse, but my rhuemy insisted I wait the 6 month period. And I'm glad I did now.

But, I would talk to your rhuemy, there might be some kind of side effect, I never had side effects myself, but everyone is different. I did get flares in my hand, but it was my uncontrolled RA, I got cortisone shots in my hand, till the orencia finally kicked in.


Lin
altoclef
altoclef
JC, I've just started Enbrel for the second time, and after 10 days my hands are definitely worse. I'm not sure if this is the storm before the calm or what, but I'm not having much fun.