I take Orencia injections, along with Arava. It works pretty well, but may diminishing for me now. It has worked much better than Enbrel or Humira. We are all so different in our responses to these drugs, that all you can do is give it a try and hope for the best. MTX took three or four months to really kick in for me, so hang in there, it may still get better!
Lynne

I'm about to be switched to Orencia as well. I had to stop taking Mtx due to side effects. I stopped Humira because it wasn't working and now my Vectra DA test came back high so I have to stop Enbrel and try Orencia.

I am also on Arava, Plaquenil & Mobic. Hopefully the weekly Orenica injections will give me the edge I need to get this pain under control.

I know this is an old post but I wanted to bump this one up. I had my first Orencia injection last week and I was searching for some posts on the injection users.

Anyone have any stories to share with their weekly injection experiences?

I tried the Orencia infusion about 2 years ago and it, unfortunately, did not work well for me. I did only give it a chance for about 6 months but I was in the middle of college semesters and the fact that it wasn't working was extremely discouraging and stressful.

It wash't an absolute failure, it just didn't work well. It helped for may be the first week and then I quickly faded back into pain. It also made me feel very anxious and depresses but then again, I hated going and sitting in an infusion center for hours so that could have contributed to my moods.

I have heard Orencia working very well for some people so it's just a matter of trial and error. Good luck to you, hope it works!! :)

I've done OK with Orencia. Had unacceptable side effects with both Humira and Enbrel, but no problems with Orencia. It does require patience. Both times I have started it, it has taken about five months to get anywhere with it.

altochef, 5 months? Wow..Humira worked for me within the first two weeks but I had bad acne so I stopped. I was expecting to hear that I could hope for relief within the first month but 5 months is a long time to wait.

stacey

why were you in the infusion center for hours?

orenica takes 25-30 minutes to go into my vein (for those contemplating the infusion) if you call and say you are in the car when you are going, they can ready the med (a lot of the wait is the hospital pharmacy). i also fade from the modest results I get with it after about 14-17 days. so it does NOT sustain me, but so far it has not hurt me infection wise.

also had modest effects with orencia injections during the two years of injections i did prior to current switch to infusion. injections were so easy that I did them at work.

i agree infusions are a pita. but this particular med, say compared to my best local RA buddy who does remicaide, is swoooooooosh in the vein - in and out. my remicaide buddy is there a 1/2 day, has to have benadryl, and has to have it dripped in slow. compare that to me with the orencia infusion, I am there an hour, tops. i don't even get a cup of water. it's a low maintenance infusion. but yeah it's still better to take a pill or self inject at home :)

Depot

Interesting read because I'm suppose to start it as soon as I pick it up from the drug store but still undecided. I had no luck at all with the Enbrel or Humira. In fact as I posted the yesterday, Humira caused all kinds of problems. My doctor really thought I had cancer from it but thank God, it was negative......We all go through it, the changing of cocktails every few months and it is so frustrating when you wait and wait for the meds to do something and they don't. Like others have said many times, we're all different.
All the best to each of you and have a great day!!
God Bless
Gary

Thank you everyone. I haven't seen much difference yet after one IV infusion of orencia and 8 weekly injections. But, fortunately, no major side effects so I will stick with it.