i went to work. left work. did the infusion. went back to work. this one is fast whooooooooosh. it's into your vein in all of 20 minutes.

prior to the infusing of orencia I took orencia by my own weekly syringe injection for years. my rheumatologist wanted me to try the infusion saying that some of her patients had better results from the slightly different formulary. having done both - the weekly injections were easier than the waste of time only for me personally involved in the infusion. It takes orencia 15 to 20 minutes (it's a teeny tiny bag) to go in. it takes like an hour to go through OPD admission for me, get set up, get a line. then the time to reverse it and back it out. see if you like it. remember for the future, if covered on insurance, there are also orencia injection weekly if the rheum agrees and you agree.

I had no side affects. no it did not make me sick or tired that day the next day or anydays. driving there and making up the time at work made me sick and tired from the extra run around(laughing).

honestly, for working and life the injections are the easiest unless you leave on top of the infusion center and the infusion center has night or weekend hours.

congrats - don't worry. don't bring a book or anything to eat - it is so fast you will not have time to drink water. the remicaide and rituxan folks are the ones that settle in at the infusion center for a long boring infuse, not the orencia-ites. :) (good news for you)

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Thank you for the reply! I'm here now waiting to be called back! I'm optimistic this will work. They gave me the instructions to drink a lot the day before & morning of. Plus to eat a salty breakfast. I'm not sure why but I did it anyway. Chips for breakfast who would turn that down lol.

i am just guessing that if I drink more water than say being dehydrated it is easier to put a line in my vein. just a guess. the chips. that's just funny. you might as well eat the kids frosted flakes while you are it :).

My rheumatologist duly reported when she started me on orencia that it was the slow load queen. meaning some folks take up to 3 to 6 months on the long end to get their therapeutic benefit, she passed on. it's the slo-poke, sometimes, but you are individual. ask your rheumatologist. the other thing that stuck in my mind that my rheumatologist talked about was her annual RA conference and orenica being the infection lite of the biologic group. she said second runner up was rituxan.

congratulations on getting to the starting gate. :)

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I'm that mom that hides in the pantry to eat a hidden honeybun every so often lol. Me eating the Frosted Flakes is a big possibility! I don't feel to bad just exhausted, slight pain increase & headache. Hopefully it doesn't take to long to work for me. Insurance wouldn't do self inject unfortunately but the nurse seems to think the infusion works faster anyway. I'm hoping this will be the med that works & I can get off the opiates that would be amazing!

I've been doing Orencia infusions for 7+ years. No after effects whatsoever! When I did it at the hospital, the hooked up the clear IV fluid first and flushed with it afterward and the whole thing took half maybe 45 minutes, but now I get it at my doctor's office and they don't bother with the flush...so it takes just 30 minutes, tops.

Best of luck! I'm in total remission on it.

They gave me a big dose of solumedrol first. I was there a total of 2 hours. They kept me longer since it was my first dose & I am sensitive to all the meds. I had a mild itchy site reaction with this one just on my arm. I love hearing positives about these meds thank you for sharing!

wow solumedrol. I only get that if I am in the hospital and have pneumonia and my lungs will not open up. if they tried that on me I would have been yelling at them to go away with their overkill on me. do you have an allergy list to stuff that these biologics are made out of like the fillers or something? solumedrol keeps me awake for 2 days. does wonders on my lungs though. when you happen to see your rheumatologist I would love to know why they did this protocol to you?

I have a buddy who had that protocol initially on rituxan (takes a day to infuse no you ritxuan-ers? ) and my best bud had that protocol with remicaide when starting (3 or 4 hours remicaders no?)

glad you can forget about this now for a month keaton

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Prednisone makes me incredibly mean for some reason so she tried this one. I slept ok with it & didn't notice any irritability. They don't know why I keep having reactions. I still have a mark from enbrel & that was 2 months ago. Mtx makes me very ill. Arava is the only one thus far that doesn't affect me at all. I noticed I could breathe easier today lol wasn't sure why. Now I know!

Oh & I go back in 2 weeks, then 2 weeks again. After that I'll be monthly.

oh yeah the loading infuse. i forgot about that