orencia | Arthritis Information

Sorry for all the questions, but that's the new plan for me.........

Hi Debra. There's a couple of threads about people on Orencia, and I am currently one of them. The dosage is by weight and is given every 4 weeks, except for the initial loading doses (there's an extra dose between the first two doses). So far I feel about a 10% improvement on it, which is really not what I (or my doctor) was hoping for. The infusions last about 30-45 minute for me, and I get them at home from a home nursing service (there are several national companies that provide this, I use a local one). I haven't had any side effects from it. As I understand, people typically see a gradual improvement after their 4th-6th dose. I started it in April and started seeing some improvement around July, but it hasn't gotten any better since then. I have seen some people on here say that you need to be on it for 9-12 months before you really know, but my nurse says his patients that it has worked for have seen more improvement than me at this point (7 months).

Hopefully it will be helpful for you.

I started Orencia mid-May. I was very reluctant to start with infusion therapy, but except for the trip to the doctor's office (about 1-1/2 hours each way), the process is quite simple. The infusion is based on weight...in my case I get one vial. It takes about 30 minutes for the actual infusion. I haven't had any side effects that I'm aware of; in fact, skin conditions I had from Enbrel have all but disappeared. I can't say that the improvement was nearly as dramatic as when starting Enbrel, but I feel I am gradually getting back to normal. My doctor said I could feel even better if I'd take Methotrexate along with the Orencia, but at this point, I've decided against it. Even though Improvement has been slow, it has been (for the most part) steady with noticeable improvement after about 3 months. As others on the board may remember, I was really discouraged about a month ago when I had a week where I seemed to regress. Fortunately, I got past it and am back on track.

I wish you well and hope that it does the trick for you!