Enbrel and benepali injections.

Kayleighx

Hi there im new to this site although have had RA diagnosed for 2 years 9 months.
I had tried almost all the medications before accepting nothing worked and was put on to enbrel but after about 5/6 weeks i started getting solid hard swelling on the injection areas that were red raw and extremely itchy..so now I am on benepali..about 6/7 weeks in the swelling hard site seems to be making a comeback..has anyone else had this with both injections and is there even a next step from this?
I also had a cortisone injection about 8 weeks ago and have been left with a horrible purple indent that is lumpy underneath. My DR says there nothing they can do and apologised..is that good enough? Is their something that they could actually do?
I am 26 years old with 2 children and feel like this is all getting worse as the days go by to the point i literally do not want to leave the house and waking up to see this swelling is back has disheartened me even more how bad this disease is going to get. I suffer extreme pain on a daily basis with this and cant face it being any worse.

dreamdaisy

Hi, I have taken Enbrel and currently take humira but I have not had such strong site reactions as this, I occasionally bruise but that's it. The Enbrel was not worth the time, trouble and expense and I know the humira is working because my bloods are lovely.

I think this is something to raise with your consultant, it may not be the med itself, it could possibly be something to do with the suspension mix but I am not a doc or a scientist! I hope you can get this sorted and that things improve sooner rather than later. DD

LignumVitae

I had this with Enbrel and stopped using it but the Humira replacement stopped working so I was put back on Enbrel. Injecting into the stomach makes it less 'reactive' and I found that taking an antihistamine half an hour before the dose and then again later (I dosed morning and took the second at bed) helped along with using hydrocortisone cream on the site. I would then take another antihistamine the next day and sometimes the day after. After a couple of months of that routine the inflammation at the sites seemed to reduce so I started to drop the antihistamines and creams in response. I now use none and the Enbrel is working a treat.