Hi, I have had RA since 1991. I had to medically retire from my job into my second year of having RA. My RA doctor did treat me aggresively and over time we found the right drugs for me. I went from Gold shots which I was allergic to, then Methotrexate, Plaquenil, until they failed and then onto the biological drugs. Remicade I was allergic to as it caused respiratory problems. I have since been on Enbrel injections for approximately the last 5 plus years. I was pain free that whole time until this past April when the RA flared. In June I saw my RA doctor when I got pretty bad and he did blood work which showed my RA Factor at 347. He has now given me Celebrex to take one to two 200 mg. capsules per day along with the once a week Enbrel injections. Now I am finding that my ankles and feet are swelling up with fluid daily, and I am beginning to gain weight at a rapid pace. These are unusual symptoms for me. I am in pain without the celebrex, I am beginning to think the Enbrel is failing me. However I was wondering if anyone else is taking Celebrex and are you suffering any of these side effects? And if so have you spoke to your doctor about them? I love to line dance and lately I haven't been doing much of it with this daily swelling. Thanks for any info you can give to me.I am also taking celebrex 2 200mg tablets per day along with plaquenil. I do not have any side effects. I just worry about the side effects of long term use. I am not a medical person but I would call my doctor ASAP to let him know about your symtoms. Good luck! SuzqI have been on Enbrel for 6 weeks now ( my first RX) I found out I had RA in April of this year. Two hours after my first injection I could move my hands! However that feedom of movement did'nt last more than 2 days. I call my rheumy and he wanted me to take MTX ( I did have the script filled but never took it because of the side effects) So my next choice was pred. I was on 10 mg. a day for 3 weeks and felt like I was back to my normal active self it was great! But, Pred has some nasty long term side effect ( one of which is always being hungry) so I asked the dr. to lower my dose of Pred and add voltaren.. well I've been in pain every since, it's been 5 days. So after calling my Dr. I am off the voltaren and back on 10 mg. of pred. It seems like the "dance of meds" I am home from work today because my pain has just exhausted me. I'm not one for complaining, I try to laugh much and stay positive, RA has a way of wearing us down sometimes. I hope your dr. will find a winning combination for you, Hello and welcome! It sounds like you maybe are not getting results from the Enbrel. It is possible that your symptoms are from the Celebrex, but that is unlikely. This is something that you should call your doctor on. You maybe having lower extremity swelling that is unrelated to your RA...there are other causes of ankle swelling and the weight gain. Do you have any family history of heart disease, like CHF? Are you having any shortness of breath? I would say this could go either way...you should either see your Rhuematologist or your PMD.
Thanks for your comments. I have never taken prednisone, but I have taken medrol many times over the years. The higher the dosage the more it can affect you emotionally. But it really does help a flare. I haven't tried it yet on this episode. Maybe the doc will recommend it again, I don't know. I suspect the next course of action will be to change me to Humira because of failure of Enbrel. I will call next week on my return home from our vacation.
I once was given Voltaren XR and during the course of taking it I had become dangerouly ill with respiratory issues. My lung function was down to 60 on outward breathes and my family doc diagnosed me with pulmonary fibrosis. Me being the researcher I am couldn't accept that and by chance thought maybe I should research my meds. Sure enough one of the symptoms of using Voltaren was severe broncho spasms. I immediately stopped taking this med and the respiratory got better and my breathing returned to normal. I was given a death sentence without more investigation by my family doc. When I told him his mouth dropped open and said "I am so sorry, that is the last thing I would have suspected". Hmm, but it was okay for him to give me a death sentence. This is why I am so afraid anymore of trying different medications of the reactions I get. Just like the Remicade, I had severe Asthma type symptoms from it. Found out I am allergic to it to the hard way.
I will call my doc as soon as we get back home and see what he wants to do about the celebrex. I have read that some of the side effects are swelling of the lower extemeities and hands, along with weight gain, but I was hoping to talk with someone else that was also expeirencing it.
No family history of heart conditions or any oher disease related to swellings that I am aware of. I also suspected heat related swelling but in the past I have never had heat swellings like this. I am still thinking it is from the celebrex.
You could be one of those people that is just hyper-sensitive to medications. Sounds like if it is the Celebrex, it is a paradoxical reaction. Why not stop it right away if you think it is causeing your problems? It is no different that stopping ibuprofen... Well good luck, I hope that it is nothing serious.
Are you allergic to Sulfa based drugs?
I had similar reactions to some anti-inflammatory drugs and found out (on my own) that sulfonasine (s.p.?) can cause swelling of the ankles etc.You might try going off of any sulfa based drugs , use an alternative, and see if that helps.
Christine
Kay, I tried stopping it and the pain gets so great. I tried supplementing it with IB's for 2 days and they didn't help the pain. Right now I am trying to space them as far apart as I can before taking a dose.
Christine, I never thought about sulphur. Is this ingredient part of Celebrex? I don't know if I am allergic to it, I know my son is, so maybe I could be to.
DH and grandchild are ready to head into Yellowstone Park for the day so I will check back in later with everyone. I am so happy I found this web site. I wish you all a pain free day.
DancingGrandma,
I copied this from a site on Celebrex, it might help. I know it made a difference for me to stay away from anything related to sulfa-based drugs.
Good luck,
Christine
You should not take CELEBREX if you:
Hi Christine, thanks for the information and the time it took you to research it for me. The only thing on that list that could be suspicious is the NSAIDS, since I was so allergic to the Voltaren XR causing me respiratory illness. I did have a couple of bronchial asthma attacks over the years. Could be a possibility.
Today I did not take a Celebrex. The last one I took was at noon yesterday. We spent alot of time in the car today driving around Yellowstone, I did minimal walking. The weather was comfortable not real hot I would say in the mid 70's. Yet I still swelled some in my ankles and the tops of my feet. Not as much though as I have been but enough to still concern my DH too. I truly don't think it is heat related. As for pain today it has been minimal, mostly my knees. I want to try and hold back on taking any more celebrex for as long as I can. We'll be back home on Sunday and I can call my RA doctor then. All i know is I want my quality of life back again. I had it for many years while taking Enbrel only, hopefully I can regain that soon. I truly am suspecting the Enbrel has failed me and it is time to move on to a new biological drug. I have been on all of them now except for Humira in the last 15 years.
Early morning update. It has now been approximately 42 hours since my last celebrex and nearly all my swelling is gone. I wish I was home so I could weigh this morning to see how much water weight I have dropped as the bathroom and I have become close friends. I have some stiffness this AM but still no real pain. I am anxious to see how today goes on our last visiting day into Yellowstone. If I can make it through the day without swelling I will pretty much believe the celebrex was the cause and that I am allergic to it also. If my pain does return today I will try Tylenol or IB's till I am home on Monday and can call the doctor. I will check back late this afternoon and let you know how successful it was with swellings. I wish everyone a pain free day.
I just wanted to check back in and tell everyone that I had a very successful day of no more swelling. My lower extremeites are again normal, I have ankle bones again. My pain is in my knees when I get up and down but it is tolerable. I am not taking anymore celebrex. It feels so good to not be so swollen all the time. Looks like I have another drug to add to my allergy list. Monday when I get home I will be calling my RA doc and letting him know and checking to see what our next course of action will be. Thanks everyone for your help.Hi there.
I'm glad your swelling has gone down. I laughed that you wrote "I have ankle bones again" - I rejoiced when my knee reappeared after being hidden in swelling for a year too. Having a chronic disease makes us grateful for the strangest things!
I'm glad you're checking in with your RA doctor though, as fluid retention should be checked out. I hope the swelling didn't spoil your trip too much.