New Drugs for Me! | Arthritis Information

 

It seems I tend to take big breaks from the board.  Hope everyone is doing fine, getting ready for the holidays without too  much worry.  I think back to last year, newly diagnosed and really SICK.  I remember trying to cook, getting it on the table and then going up to bed for the night.  I think this year will be much better. :)

 

Have new drugs on board...I'm on the Orencia now, did the two loading doses and then the third, and had a horrible reaction to it!  My face blew up like nothing I'd ever seen before, and literally swelled down to the top of my chest, very weird!  I wanted to stop it, but found that I was already getting some relief.  So now they load me with Benadryl and decadron IV first, then hit me with the big "O".  No longer get a reaction from it, which is great, but the decadron IV is the biggest surprise!  I mean, like 4 days straight of feeling really great!  I jokingly mentioned this to my GP yesteday and he said "we can do IV decadron weekly".  Huh?  YES!!!  He said it's definitely better than all of the pred. I take for me, but of course we could run the risk of burning out my adrenal gland.  Darn!  Good to know, though, that in a bad flare, an extra boost IV of the Decadron is a possibility.

 

So, I also mentioned to him that I was very unmotivated, restless, blah, blah, and asked if happy pills were available to me.  His response was that he was surprised I hadn't asked for them sooner. 

 

So, he put me on Cymbalta, since I do get some peripheral nerve inflammation along the ulnar nerve.  I've read some rough accounts of people on it, and wondering if any of you have experienced the negative side effects that I have heard about, including difficulty withdrawing from it.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lisa