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...

2,179 Members
16,355 Posts
0 Online
Muscles & Bones
/ Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

prednisone

bigiblue
bigiblue
I' m off the pred once again and the swelling in my Knee and right wrist has returned. I strted Enbrel 4 weeks ago and am on 5 pills of Mtx.
I just don't get it, was doing so great the last couple of weeks and now I am back to square one.Any Body have any suggestions or insights on all this. Will the swelling finally go away over time, The Enbrel worked right after the first shot. I had no pain at all and I felt great.
bigi
deleted_user
deleted_user
When I was started on enbrel and had such a great response i began a prednsone taper but one i was down to 5 mgs the pain and swelling would come back. I was tapered down by one mg per month and when i got down to 2 mgs taped by 1/2mg.I did have more pain as the dose was decreased but it would pass.It was hard to get off it but i was so happy when i was finally off it.I hope you are feeling better soon and just know it will get better
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hi Bigi,
Sorry that you feel you are back to 'square one' after your prednisone taper & that swelling has returned. How disappointing! I find RA quite mysterious but I know that I still can't get off Prednisone because when I try I begin to lose use of my legs and have problems walking. I worked really hard tapering but have now gone back up to 8mg. I started Enbrel about 6 months ago & after about 3 weeks felt better (woke up day after Enbrel with a little bit of energy, felt like I had a bit of a 'spring in my step') but unfortunately I don't get that anymore and have just stopped Enbrel as I wait to start new drug, I'm on weekly MTX injections & Celebrex.

All I can think of is that Prednisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory. It's really hard when we feel better to suddenly lose it again. Hopefully your knee & wrist feels better soon.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Bigi - not back to square one entirely - you did get a positive response to Enbrel - so that is good! Remember these things take awhile to "build up" in our system so it could be that (I'm hoping!)
Am sorry you are having this setback, you've had such a tough spell with all of this and I was overjoyed when the Enbrel started working for you.
does the dr. seem concerned? (maybe he/she sees this often and it's just "how things go for a little while'?)

BIG HUGS
Tort