Yesterday was the big day. I gave myself my first shot of Enbrel. The nurse was here to train me. To my surprise the pharmacy gave me regular syringes. It wasn't bad though. I think I may prefer them to the other type. Anyway, no reaction as far as I can tell. Now it's a wait and see game...again. I really hope it works. The needle didnt hurt, just the medication burns a little but that is gone fairly quickly.
It took a while but I did a lot of reading and research on my family history before I was comfortable with deciding to take Enbrel. It helped when I spoke to the doc a the clinic about concerns over my liver and the fact that the Ibruprofen is bad for the heart. They want me off the ibuprofen asap. Lets face it 1800 mg a day just isn't healthy but that's what it takes to keep the pain a bay. Even then I'm still in pain most of the time anyway.
No more leflunomide. When I told the doc a the clinic that it made my hair fall out he told me to stop taking in immediately. I already had the week before. I wouldn't usually do that but with needing prednisone every couple months it was obvious L wasn't doing it's job. On a positive note, within a week my hair stopped falling out.
Here's hoping for days free of pain and swelling :) and that I can keep my hair.