Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Kimberley97 07/30/2013

Anyone have any orencia info that might help me. I will be starting it as soon as dr gets it all approved with insurance and he said I have to wait about a month till I'm all well from this junk I got goin on. Just wondered if it has helped some if you

Dreamchaser-Linda 07/31/2013

Me me me! Helped me so much. But, the downside is, it takes forever. Took 6 months to feel pretty dang good, and 9 months to feel very close to normal again. I went from a walker to a cane, and I only use the cane to keep myself balanced.
Only side effects are fast heart beat, and sinus headaches, but only the day after I get my infusion.
Even with it taking so long, the fatigue goes away first couple of months.
I wish you lots of luck, orencia was my 4th bio, and I swear it feels like I won the lotto.
I do still get flares, it didn't put me in remission. But you know I don't care about remission, I'm just glad to walk, shop, and and be myself again! I can put up with the occasion flare. There was a time I couldn't walk at all, or get out of bed. So all the little things make me very happy!

Hugs
Lin

Dreamchaser-Linda 07/31/2013

LOL I sure wish they had spell check, and edit on this board. =)

me2012 07/31/2013

Hi Kim, I started with weekly injections due to the convenience. Not a single person warned me about how much it STINGS. Whoo boy, It hurt! If you use the injectable form, I recommend applying an ice cube to the site to make it good and numb first. Only noticed a slight improvement after 6 months, then switched to monthly IV form. Felt a little better, but it only lasted a few months. The only real side effects I had was a terrible head ache that lasted a day or two after the shot/infusion. Unfortunatly it does seem that all bios take a while to work and have a tendency to lose their effectiveness. Good luck. hope you find relief.

JCRockstar 07/31/2013

just took my first shot today as a matter of fact. keeping my fingers crossed. was on xeljanz. xeljanz worked at first then stopped. also caused my cholesterol and triglycerides to become elevated, weight gain and stomach problems. i hoping orencia will finally be the one that works for me.

i gave myself the shot this morning. it took me a couple of days to work up to it. i hate needles. doctor said to take it out of refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to injecting... let it warm up to room temp. i actually took the shot in my stomach and was sooo surprised when it didn't hurt at all... i couldn't believe it! so thankful. :)

good luck to you.

me2012 07/31/2013

JCR, Glad to here the shot did not bother you. I hope this med works well for you. Kim, I hope you too will be lucky with this med. Take care.

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