Hey LP,

I was thinking the same exact thing. I took my first shot of Enbrel last Friday. Starting yesterday, Wednesday, a lot of my body pain and my finger swelling was back.

Shot number two comes tomorrow. I hope it lasts longer cause I really want to start titrating off my steroid usage.

Be well Lion,
TheWino

I am on Methotrexate and yes... I take it on Saturday night and it doesn't seem to start working until Monday... then by Thursday evening I start to feel the aches and pains again.

I finally went from 10, to 5 mg. Well last Saturday I managed a drop from 5, to 2.5!!!
I am so happy. Now I hurt more, swell more, have morning stiffness as well, but I'm almost free of prednisone after 7 straight months!

My rheumatologist has my on rayos (are you on it too), the time release prednisone? So when I weaned, I went from taking two at night to one. But once I decided to go to 2 1/2 mg, I had to go to my old stash of regular 5s and split them, since you can't break rayos. I am stiffer now as a result since I have to take it in the morning as opposedto the bedtime rayos. That was you right, that asked a few months back on rayos, or am I going nuts?!

I'm hoping enbrel kicks in hard so I can go off pred next Friday, a week from tomorrow. Crossing fingers!!!

Sorry for the off topic, but who doesn't get totally excited at the prospect of no longer being yoked to prednisone?!?!

Oh......I started Simponi and did my first injection this morning. It's a once a month shot so i have no idea what to expect. If anything at all appart from side effects

After 6 weeks of Enbrel I'm still waiting for it to do anything so no, I don't feel any wearing off effect since there is no effect to begin with.

Ah, I'm sorry coaltrain. I felt great two days after my second enbrel shot. Unfortunately I've back stepped this week and feel like I was hit by a truck. I'm scared to complain too much seeing as I don't feel as bad as when I was diagnosed lol. Don't wanna go there ever again!

Metho wears off about 4 days after my injection. I inject on Saturdays and today my hands & wrists are throbbing. I'm the same as Coaltrain on the Enbrel, my 10th shot is tomorrow & nothing yet. Humira wore off at about day 10.

Prednisone..yes I was glad to get rid of it. I don't tolerate it well at all. It makes me a crazy person. I just finished a 3mo round and won't be taking it again unless its the last drug on Earth. The side effects are just too hard on my system.

Lion,

I've been on steroids for years. Without looking it up, I'm thinking roughly 3.5-4 years. And, I started Rayos as well about three months ago.

Now that I have started a biologic, my very first task is to try very hard to rid myself of the need for steroids!

I wish you luck in your endeavor!

My fingers are crossed as well for you.
TheWino

I'm not sure about MTX because I don't notice a big difference with it except for the 36 hours of absolute fatigue it causes. I did notice a stating/wearing off cycle with Humira every two weeks. I would take it Wednesday morning and notice it working by Friday but Friday and Saturday are no good because of MTX. So I would have great days Sunday-Thursday before my next MTX dose. By the time I came out of MTX fog the Humira had worn off. So I would get about 4 good days out of 14.

I called my rheumy and he increased my Humira to weekly. I started that 3 weeks ago. I don't count the first week because I had to skip my MTX to go on-call for a week. Last week was pretty darn good. I took my 3rd weekly Humira dose yesterday and will take my next MTX dose tomorrow. We'll see how it goes!~Lori

I was on methotrexate for several years and am currently using Enbrel. I can't say that I noticed a drop off in effectiveness between the weekly doses. For me, at least, if it's occurring it's minor.

Jane

I've been on mtx, Enbrel and Humira. The mtx hit me like a train at high doses, I was useless for about two days, then felt alright for 3, then last 2 days felt increasing symptoms again--that has improved since I'm taking a lower dosage, and it's hard to tell if it wears off because I stagger the Enbrel and mtx. Humira worked quickly for me, but worse off after about 7-10 days. Enbrel also has a quick effect for me (and doesn't wipe me out), but some weeks I feel it wears off some the last day or so.

I was on 10mg of prednisone for about a year during the time I was trying Humira and starting Enbrel. I wonder if it might be kinder to your body to not wean off it so fast, while allowing the Enbrel to start working. I stepped down 2.5mg about every couple months after starting biologics, and I felt like my body could adjust to that rate of decrease fairly easily. Even though you felt better quickly after starting Enbrel, I would imagine it takes a while for the systemic inflammation in joints and tissues to be reduced, and stepping down the pred quickly is maybe working against that process.

I hope you get back to feeling good quickly!

I am so glad you posted this. Sometimes I think I imagine things. I notice that I start feeling worse about two days before I am to inject Enbrel again.

I'm on humira and really haven't noticed any drop off. Off of prednisone and decreasing the mtx, which I don't think has ever really done anything. Until humira could never get off of the pred without pain and swelling. Currently take mtx on Friday night, so Sat is my tired, nauseas day. Do the humira every other Monday. Maybe once the embrel builds up in your system it will last longer. Good luck

I definitely feel Mtx wear off a full day and a half before my Friday night injection. I have moved my Enbrel shot to Monday so I might have the most good days possible each week, with the two combined. Still taking 2.5 - 3 mg of prednisone daily as well, though. Every time I start to wean off, the fatigue and stiffness become awful. Dr says 3 mg is not a big deal; if it makes that much difference, stay on it. I hope she knows what we're doin' here!