Side effects with Adalimumab

HelenLDee

Hello!! Has anyone had any side effects when they started on biologics? I have Psoriatic Arthritis and have been prescribed sulfasalazine and then methotrexate in the past year and moved off both due to bad side effects, mainly stomach problems and headaches/tinnutus. I have had my second adalimumab injection this week and am experiencing stomach cramps, nausea and tiredness, just the same as after the first injection. I am posting for the very first time on here as I just wondered if anyone else had experienced this and whether it might just be my body getting used to another new drug?

I am a bit disappointed as biologics are normally fairly well tolerated so I really hope I get used to it soon, if it is just teething problems. Any advice gratefully received 😊

Chris_R

Hi@HelenLDee

Welcome to the online community,lovely to hear from you.

You say you have Psoriatic Arthritis and have taken adalimumab and have now got stomach crampswith your second injection and you want to know if anyone has had something similar or your body is getting use to a new drug.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/drugs/adalimumab/

Hope this link helps.Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.Do go onto our forums to speak to others about your arthritis as everyone knows how you feel and will try and give advice

All the best Christine

Mrsjub1921

Hiya,

i have just posted about the same thing.

But im 6 months in and still getting cramps and upset stomach. Ive been told to basically put up with it if its helping my joints but this is every 2 weeks for 2-3 days.

It started with headaches which eased after the 3rd injection, but after 6 months i cant see these side effects every stopping. Very frsutrating. x

Becky88

Good Afternoon,

I was on adalimumab a few years ago, the injection form. As far as I can remember, I did get some nausea from it, but that may also been to do with having to administer the injection myself. I This can be helped by asking your RA team if they think it would be possible to prescribe you some anti sickness medication. I also had some localised skin reactions.

The drug worked fairly well for me but I think that it started to become ineffective after a few years, so I was changed to something else.

I think that everything is a balancing act with these medications and that they seem to affect people in different ways.

Maybe you could talk to your RA team to discuss your worries and hopefully they will be able to reassure you and offer some good advice. I hope that things settle down for you soon.

Scrummycake

Scrummycake

Hello @HelenLDee

I was on Imraldi (adalimumab) and although I didn’t have stomach issues (unusual for me as I have a sensitive stomach) my hair was shedding really badly while on it. It did seem to be working fairly well, but I had to stop when I caught covid. Due to the hair shedding (I’ve since learned it is a side effect) I didn’t restart, but tbh I felt so good after covid and taking paxlovid, I was pain free for the first time in years.

However, since my flu jab I am now in a bad flare and have problems with my tendons, which I didn’t have before Imraldi. I have seen on another forum someone else said they had tendon problems after stopping Imraldi. So I am speaking to my rheumy team to look at trying another biologic.

I have also been on sulphasalazine for about 15 years, but have the enteric coated tablets - Salazopyrin. Might be worth you trying those if you don’t have the coated tablets as they are easier on your tummy?

Hope you get sorted and find something that agrees with you and works.