First of all, welcome back!!! and many thanks to the new administrator!!!!!
I have been injecting Enbrel since June and never had more than minor sight reactions. 2 weeks ago the day after injecting I noticed a lot of itching at the sites of both my previous injections. Then I noticed that my eyes were a little puffy. Over the next couple of days my eyes got much worse and I got a rash over about 70% of my body. My pcp put me on prednesone (?) for 9 days and my rheumy doc told me to stop enbrel until the rash clears up. I still have remnants of the rash so I haven't started back on Enbrel.
Has anyone had or heard of this type of reaction to Enbrel? I am not convinced that it was a reaction to Enbrel but if not that, I can't imagine what it is - I can't think of anything else I have done that might have caused it.
Thanks for anyone's experience!
Hi Annie,
That reaction sounds a little extreme, but could be an allergic reaction to Enbrel. Another thing to check is whether or not the Enbrel syringes or covers contain latex. If so, you may have developed an allergy to it.
I developed problems 3 weeks after starting Kineret. They weren't as severe as yours but I developed large purple itching welts everywhere I had injected in the past 3 weeks (Kineret is injected daily). Fortunately it didn't spread anywhere else, but took quite a lot of benedryl to get over it.
Short term prednisone (8 - 9 days) is common treatment for any kind of inflammation, so seems like a logical treatment here.
Hope you find out what it is!
Beth
Hi annieb,
I took Enbrel for about 18 months and 11 of them were spent fighting skin rashes. I kept going back on forth to the dermatologist. After about 4 different ointments and being on antibiotics twice for a month both times my rheumy took me off the med. The dermatologist said he has been seeing this more and more in his patients on Enbrel. He said it can lower some peoples resistance so low that opportunistic skin infections can set in. Oh by the way I got 2 lovely skin infections from the med a bacterial and a fungal infection. If you go off the med and go back on it and the rashes reappear I would ask your rheumy to put you on a different biologic. I went off and back on the med 4 times and the rashes always came back even after antibiotics. Good luck
Yes, I do agree, my hat id s off to the administrators on he new forma of this ste! It is absooluteely wonderful and glad to be back.
Oh my goodness! THose reactions are so difficult on your whole body system! I neve had that happen on Enbrel but did have that happen on Humira and other drugs. I hope you get to feeling better and find another drug tot help this awful disease.
lynndee
thanks for the comments.
Midnitestich - can you tell me more about your rashes? Did you ever get swelling around your eyes?
thanks
Annie,
Did you recently switch to the once a week Enbrel doses? If you did, it has a preservative in it, which could possibly cause a reaction.
The bi-weekly (25mg) doses don't have preservative in them.
I haven't heard of anyone developing a reaction like that to Enbrel after being on it for a while. I would think you would have had a problem soon after starting on it, but then again....when it comes to all this stuff, who knows!
Annieb,
No I never had swelling around my eyes. I had the rashes on my head, neck, back,chest, arms and pubic area. I also at one time got boils on my rear end. I was on the med for 5 months when the rashes and boils started. Some of them looked like pimples and others were smaller and had like a yellow liquid in them. They itched like h*ll. I hope you have better luck than I did. I went to the dermatologist for 7 months before he and the rheumy finally admitted the Enbrel was the cause of my problems. I had started and stopped the med myself 2 times to see if the rashes would clear up and they did. Whenever I went back on the med they started back up. Dermatologist put me on antibiotics twice a day for a month and took me off Enbrel. My skin cleared up. Went back on the med and within 2 weeks rashes started coming back. Had to pull me off the med again and put me on antibiotics 4 times a day for a month. Told me he's been seeing more and more of the problem I had of with people are taking Enbrel. Rheumy put me back on Kineret. Said there was no point in trying another TNF like Humira or Remicade because they would most likely do the same thing because they basically work the same way.
Hi All..
I started Enbrel 3 weeks ago and just found small rash around injection site.No pain or itching, yet, but will keep you updated if any changes.Also,I did the 1st 3 in my r/leg then when I switched to l/leg is when I saw rash on r/leg. the rash showed up on l/leg same day.
Good thing we have big sholder's!!
Mike
I had reactions to the injections for about 10 - 12 injections. Then they all calmed down. I too was on the Pred pack to lessen the reactions which helped A LOT !!!
Hang in there and give it some time. Have you called and talked to the Enbrel people for other options i.e. injection sites, techniques? They were quite helpful to me.
*hugs*
Cindy
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