Teuness, sorry to hear you had such a bad reaction. Hope the new drug works for you!

Xeljanz did not work for me, but everyone is different. Sorry about the allergic reaction to Remade.

Sadly, sometimes we have to go through a lot of meds to find relief.

I didn't have any side effects with Xeljanz, but it simply wasn't strong enough. But my RD says I am the worst he has ever seen, so hopefully this will be your new magic bullet.

I tried xeljanz. It didn't do anything for me. Just gave me daily headaches

So sorry for the remicade reaction.. That sucks. I hope the new med works for you.
I haven't gotten that far in my search for one that works. I tried Humira and it didn't do anything. I take my first shot of Enbrel tonight and hope it helps.

I feel your frustration. What makes it worse, I think, is the fact that it was helping you at first. This med journey is so difficult! I'm thinking humira isn't doing anything for me....sigh! Best of luck to you in finding the right one.

I'm curious - maybe someone knows the answer to this:

Given Teuness' reaction to Remicade, has anyone taken Pred or other med PRIOR to Remicade infusion, to stave off the side effects?

I'm think of cancer patients who undergo chemo and some react to a certain chemo drug, so they get other drugs to prevent the adverse effects BEFORE the chemo.

Maybe it's been tried and it's useless for Remicade. I don't know.

Anyone know?

When I was on Remicade, I was given Benadryl before my infusion. I only had a small reaction once and it wasn't severe. I liked Remicade until it quit working for me. Sorry you had such a bad reaction. Hope this new one helps. I have not taken it so I don't know. But like everyone says, we are each different in our reactions to meds. Good luck!

I know we have at least 1 person here on Xeljanz so hopefully, you'll get some first hand advice. But what I wanted to add is that Xeljanz is totally different from the other biologics used for RA.

While the others inhibit a part of the immune system, Xeljanz inhibits a chemical reaction that takes place around the joints themselves, interfering with the formation of inflammation. So it doesn't react like Remicade and you are less likely to have an allergic reaction.

I had an allergic reaction to Humira but it was was within minutes of my first injection(known as an anaphylactoid reaction but is not anaphylaxis). We have no idea what others I might be allergic to but so far so good with Orencia.

Good luck................Jen

That's something I didn't know [xeljanz and inhibition of inflammation in the joints].

Thanks 51 Percent. Learn something new every day.

Before i had my remicade infusion i was given solu medrol and claritan to ward off reaction. The medrol was given through the iv

Rituxan is another drug they do major interventions before the infusion.

You have to take Benadryl, but also a preloading 100mg dose of solo-medrol.

The second year I was on Rituxan, after the second infusion, I just utterly collapsed. I had no energy, slept on a couch one morning at church, even though I have trouble normally sleeping at home, safe and secure in bed. I thought it was Rituxan.

Instead, it was the cortisone pre-loading dose had put me into adrenal failure, literally for 2 months after each set of infusions. Since I had no reactions whatever to Rituxan, my rheumatologist had me go down to 20 mg oral prednisone before the infusion. I was just fine, and no more adrenal failure! (Except for the lung issues, and not working long enough!)

So I suppose you could do a big pre-loading dose for any infusion. But then again, if you have a serious allergic reaction, it could get worse with each time you take the drug. So probably better you are trying something different.

One other thing I want to note, with Xeljanz, is that the drug reps do a big thing with selling this new drug to the docs. I was the only one my rheumatologist tried out on Xeljanz and it was a fail. He told me that when the rep starting bugging him to prescribe it more, he told him it didn't work on me, and that he had lots of options to give patients that he knew well and used frequently. Why start prescribing a new drug, when the other drugs work well?

So if your doctor is prescribing Xeljanz, make sure it isn't just because of pressure by the drug reps, After all that is what they are paid to do - sell their drug!

Yes, but how would you know [if you were getting the drug due to pressure on the doctor by the pharmaceutical reps]? I don't think any doctor would admit to it.

Huh. I like my doctor and blood work came back i have built up antibodies to the Remicade.

So after a 30-40 minute phone conversation with my doctor we decided it was the best idea we can go at this time. My body just seems to build up a tolerance faster than the typical one.

I actually love my doctor, she's called personally several time during this problem to discuss the plan and just see how i am doing. Assuring me that we will get through this problem.

She called at 10pm tonight to reply to a message i left at 2pm because she felt it couldn't wait. I have hives again spreading across my body, everywhere. She said i could go to the ER or wait it out until the AM and do another steroid taper. Im hoping this helps.

Its still frustrating that we think we get one problem figured out my body decides to go 'f you' and do its own thing. I just hope my doctor doesnt retire...then i would be up acreek without a paddle so to speak.

So wonderful you have a kind and compassionate Rheumatologist who is working together on this.

I am sure that you should be following her plan. If Xeljanz doesn't work after 3-6 months, I am sure your doctor will figure out something else.

But here's hoping it will work for you! I heard someone once say it took 2 weeks and then Xeljanz was great! That could be you, too!