Has anyone had any issues with their liver and/or kidneys while on Remicade or other tnf inhibitor? My liver enzymes are even more elevated than before I went on meds (I do not take mtx for that reason) and kidney function is worse. I'm wondering if this could be due to the meds or if my body just doesn't like me.
Dear nym,
So sorry to hear of this. As you know, I have no personal experience with this, so I went over a few pages on the net. There seems to be a mix of answers about this, some sites link it and some medical sites say it is not the med, but the disease. I am not sure if they can differntiate accurately.
In any case, I hope this can be cleared up, have they made a decision on continuing the Remicade?
Hope things can be worked out and that your liver and kidneys can heal without you stopping the treatments.
My best to you,
SK
Enbrel has not been associated with liver or kidney damage. I have no idea about Remicade.
I am so sorry about this.
Liver enzymes can get jacked up for all kinds of reasons including a bout with a virus, even if you are eating liver healthy foods and otherwise taking care of the liver. Most auto-immune sufferers have dysfunction in the liver to begin with.
I'd be drinking dandelion tea, lots of water, and eating those liver healthy foods to help it out. Red Clover Combination is a supplement that is great for liver health as well.
Hugs and blessings.
I take Methotrexate and Enbrel on a weekly basis. About 6 months ago I started showing increases in my liver enzymes. The Rheumy asked if I drink alcohol or have been taking advil, or have been feeling sick. None of the above.....So they suggested watching to see if it was an anomaly or ......so far so good. I have bloodwork this week, so will keep you posted.
I have simple fatty liver, so do have liver issues. However, my elevated liver enzymes due to the simple fatty liver had stayed the same until lately.
I see my rheumy in a few hours and will go through all of this with him. I got the results from my gp at the end of last week. I will also be seeing my gastroenterologist next month, but not until the end of the month. My next remi infusion is supposed to be on Sept 7. I'm hoping my rheumy keeps me on remi, and opts for more blood tests after my next infusion to see what it does to my levels. I'm also making more dietary changes to see if it helps (cutting out dairy, coffee, eating less meat, and paying closer attention to my carbs and such).
This is SO frustrating after my lovely month where I felt SO good!
I do have kidney issues & my rheumy put me on remicade because he said it does not effect the kidney. I can not speak of the liver. I do know that mtx DOES effect the liver & routine blood tests to check the liver function are done on a regular basis. The fact that blood tests are not done when on remicade would lead me to think that the liver is not effected either. I believe that the fact that remicade is infused and not digested may play a part.
I just got back from the rheumatologist, and forgot my list and forgot half the stuff I wanted to talk to him about. Anyway, here's his take on it ...
We can't be certain if it's the Remicade causing the elevated liver enzymes ... there's a VERY small chance it is (I think he said it's something like 1% of people), also a very small chance it's the tramadol. So, he's taking me off of ALL PsA meds (I can still take tramadol). He's sending me for a liver ultrasound to see if there have been changes since last year and/or if there's any damage (I'll get that done this week or next) and for bloodwork the first week of September (the week of what was supposed to be my next infusion). If my liver enzymes have gone down he'll take me off Remicade and probably put me on Humira. If they're the same, we'll assume the Remicade has nothing to do with it and I'll be put back on Remicade. It's not the best plan, since we don't know for sure what made my levels rise and whether or not it's something completely different that will be resolved by the time I get the bloodwork, but it's all we could come up with.
So now I have a month to wait - and am wondering if the dietary changes I had planned should wait a month so I'm not "accidentally" lowering my liver enzyme levels through diet and therefore getting off Remicade for nothing. I do eat very healthy - I was going to cut dairy and eat less meat (I don't eat much anyway) to see if it helped me feel better, but perhaps that can wait four weeks.