For me, it took about 2 months before I noticed consistent improvement and felt good enough to decrease my prednisone dose. I'm still on 3mg daily and I hope to start tapering again (I had to miss 3 weeks of Enbrel due to an infection so I did a little backslide). I am also on 17.5mg MTX.

First time I took it, I was also on methotrexate and it fixed me up in 2 weeks.

Second time (recently), it took 8-10 shots and it wasn't the miracle it was the first round, but then again, I was only on Enbrel.

Please do make sure you go for regular blood work. My liver enzymes went up on Enbrel (possibly both times but definitely second time). It is super rare, but it can and does happen.

After you've taken it for three full months, I'd guess that to be about how well it works alone. Some people can take another month or two even after 3mo. GOOD LUCK!

I guess everyone is different with this. With both Humira and Enbrel I felt some effect in the second month but not the full effect until month 6.

If you stopped taking Prednisone abruptly that could certainly make your RA much more noticeable without even putting Enbrel in the equation.

Thanks for getting back to me everyone. I did stop the prednisone kind of quickly. It sure did help though. I'm in such pain today I'm wondering if I made the right decision stopping prednisone. I felt I had no choice because it was making me manic and giving me insomnia. I never thought it would be this bad though. I'm far from having the worse case on here but I returned to work after taking a month off and I hurt more than ever. I thought I was getting better but 3 days of work with just a little stress thrown in and I'm ready to get throw in the towel on a 25 year teaching career! I'm in pain from my toes to my eyes and completely wiped out. I really feel like crying today. Sorry:(

One day. 100% difference.

I actually did feel better after the first injection and felt like I was slowly improving until I returned to work Wednesday. Now I'm in more pain than I was prior to starting Enbrel. 3 days of work, and stress, and I'm flaring up terribly!

I don't know lodine, but I took Mobic which was 15mg per day and it really did help.

If prednisone worked well, you could see about 1/2mg a day. Tiny dose but might be all you need.

Lodine is a prescription NSAID like Mobic. It usually works well but didn't touch my inflammation levels today. Maybe I should have gone lower on the prednisone. I was down to 2.5 mgs and still manic and not sleeping. Maybe I should have insisted the my doctor keep me on the methotrexate with Embrel if it works better. I blame Mehtotrexate for fog that more than likely was the result of not sleeping for 2 months,

Reading both your other post and this one - you last post in particular - going off both Prednisone and Methotrexate totally at the same time might be throwing your RA into fits.

Both these meds have some serious side effects but you might have to learn to deal with them. I've never had any bad effects from the Prednisone but am only on 5mg a day - but have been on that dose for 2+ years now.

But the Methotrexate - nobody hates the brain fog and severe fatigue from that more than I do. But let me tell a quick part of my story....

I was started on 4 pills a week to start. It took exactly 6 weeks for it to kick in but it was amazing - took away all my RA symptoms totally and was happily working. At that point the doc upped it to 7 pills a week. The positive effect lasted for ~3 months then slowly started wearing off so I knew the next step was to add a biologic. 6 months later at my Rheumatologist appointment my liver enzymes showed a marked increase so the doc cut the Methotrexate back to 4 pills.

Fast forward 2 weeks and I hit the proverbial brick wall. I was 400 miles away from home at the time and didn't know how I was going to get home let alone drag my trailer full of mail where it was supposed to go. I called and got an emergency appointment with my Rhematologist for 2 days later and somehow working on adrenaline and coffee got myself home.

At that point I started on Humira but it was too late I guess. Ending my very long story here I could never go back to work after that. That was 3.5 years ago.

I am now on Humira, 4 pills of Methotrexate, Folic Acid, and 5mg of Prednisone. I am holding my own but am in pretty bad shape overall compared to my old self. Can't make it walking through one of those big grocery stores - can only tinker around the house or barn for an hour or so at a time before I can't stand or move my hands anymore - plus the fatigue is still there mandating 2-3 1 hours naps a day.

I'm telling you all this in hopes that maybe stopping those 2 meds abruptly might have something to do with the way you kind of fell off the cliff the last few days. Maybe think about going back on a low dose of both the Methotrexate and Prednisone and find a way to tolerate the side effects. I've found that this whole RA thing is a huge balancing act between how much you can function and how well you can put up with or work around the medication side effects. Make any changes slowly!

Thanks coal train! What you say makes sense. The only reason I hastily pushed for those changes was because I wanted to get out of the fog and get to sleeping better on the limited sick leave I allowed myself. I should have taken off the rest of the school year and made slower changes. I also expected more from the Enbrel at this point. I believe it us helping but not enough to manage a stressful job at the moment.
Greg

You could get 1mg prednisone pills prescribed, then break them into 1/4ths. See what 1/4th does for a week. Then 1/2. Maybe that is just what you need til you hit the 4-5month mark?

Bcatz you read my mind. Here's the way I see it. I felt I didn't want to take any prednisone due to disruption of sleep and any methotrexate because it adds to fatigue (sometimes). I wanted to be able to work but with the pain I am in right now I cant work anyway, let alone walk without being in pain. I am calling the rheumy to give me the smallest dose of methyl prednisone as some people feel it may have less side effects. I'll be asking to start the metho again on a smaller dose and I'll go up from there. Like I said, I pushed the rheumy hard to drop these meds from my treatment so I can go to work and that has since backfired. I'm having the rheumy hit my RA harder with meds so I can have a life. I'll worry about work later!
Greg

Sounds like a good plan Greg.

Like I said earlier, it is all a balancing act.

5 injections of Enbrel but still stiff and in pain. I even added 1 mg methyl prednisolone. I guess I'll be bumping that to 2 tomorrow. The Enbrel was having some beneficial effects but throw in a long commute and a stressful job and and the Enbrel is losing the battle, Pain is not even the worse thing. The fatigue and feeling ill is much worse. I know I have to give Enbrel a couple months but since returning too work I'm back to square one! I'm pretty sure I'll get more relief if I up the methyl prednisolone but will Enbrel, or Enbrel + steroids, be enough for me to control my symptoms while working? Is it possible that there will never be that good of control while working a long day?

It can take 4-5 months for the Enbrel to really be effective. So, you are probably smart to go up to 2mg. And are you taking meloxicam (Mobic) or advil or something?

I think you are just going to be in a much longer ramp up. If you've noticed some improvement on Enbrel then it has hope to continue ramping up.

And, regarding methotrexate - it definitely takes time. So, if your doctor lets you add 2 pills of it a week for now, it won't make a dent but in a couple of months it can possibly replace that steroid.
(or 3pills of methotrexate, whatever lowest dose your doctor is good with)
Good luck.