Trish,
I honestly had to look at your page to see if you were in another country! My Rheum does not want to prescribe meds for pain, just for Autoimmune, but my GP wants me to take Opana as a maintence drug, where as I will only take it to deal with very intense pain and to break pain cycles. I suppose in time, with the spinal stenosis, that may change.
Oxiprozin is an antiinflammatory that I take as a maintence drug, and helps my SI joints tremendously, and the Lyrica does wonders for a wicked case of sciatica.
I have taken 7 shots of Enbrel, and there are times I do feel a great difference in pain and mobility levels BUT only if there is not a big storm brewing, and that has been going on non stop since beginning the Enbrel. One big storm after the other, so barometric pressure is a big factor in how I am feeling.
I am dreading the time when the A/C will have to be on all of the time as it just kills me, even if I have the air off in the room I am in, and just rely on it coming from another room it is too much.
Once the liver starts acting up, I suppose they do not want to administer pain meds, but that is one reason why the biologics are so impressive, they do not cause as many of the side effects as the 'chemical' ones, they bypass areas to get to the area where they are needed, right down to the very cell.
The choice has to be yours, for sure, I cannot know all of your health problems or all of the reasons that you are not keen on it. And believe me when I tell you that I am not a needle fan, but after going through full treatments at pain management (5 pain management doctors in all) with the BIG needles right in the area that is killing me, and in the long run only being made worse, these needles are less bothersome than a mosquito bite.
For personal reasons, I do not want needles in my legs or my stomach, so my Mom or my husband give them to me in my arms, I alternate, called Enbrel to check on this, and am having no problems.
I will tell you this, the way this disease progresses, I may think that there is not a significant difference in the way that I feel, but come Friday, I feel like I am ready to get that little shot, because I can feel the good it does me wearing off.
I have not had liver problems from meds, but I had gall bladder problems for 20 years, until someone was smart enough to finally do a hydascan on me to find my GB was totally dead and non-functioning, it was stuck fast to the liver, and the surgeon was amazed I was not bright yellow with jaundice.
I did the liver cleanse deal with the kit from the health food store, took milk thistle with the advice of the chiropractor, and rather than B5, lamb thinks it is better for the liver to eat foods rich in B5. Even with all of that, taking no meds and not drinking, it took my liver about 2 years to clear.
Now you have to think about how your life is going to be, how the PsA is going to be in 2 years if you do not give Enbrel a try. I remember reading something on here from Byrd feeder about a lady telling her from her wheel chair that she wished she would have had that drug available, not to wait too long to begin the treatment that she has available to slow joint damage and loss of function.
There are no easy answers here, it is a place to vent your anger, fears, triumpths, to ask and answer questions. As much as we all think we know, we do not possibly know as much as the Doctors who treat us, as smart as we can be, we only scratch the surface of their knowledge. My grandkids all have psoriasis, my little great grandson was born with it, my son's back is that of a 70 year old man, and he is not yet 40. I am going to take anything my doctor will write me, because I owe it to myself and to them.
My pain was so pronounced that I did not want to live, so I took the narcotics, I took the Sulfasalazine, the Methotrexate, and now the Enbrel, and I feel far better on that joint wise, stomach wise, and lack of blisters all through the inside and outside of my mouth wise. My pain is tolerable most of the time, sometimes it can be 'pushed through'. I just know that if I had to live with nothing to ease the pain of this, then I just don't want to live. If I get 5 or 10 or so more years and can live those years NOT in intractable pain, I'll trade them any day for 30 more years in pain that I cannot handle.
You have every right to be angry, mad, pissed off, enraged!! For sure!! So do what ever you need to to get through that, and then decide where you are headed. We will talk to you, listen to you anytime. No one knows how you feel better than we do.
We are all here for you.
SK
