Two Years: Great Results on Enbrel
from Lorna C.

Hey Ed:  Remember me? I am still P free. I am going on two years in July with Enbrel. Last October I had a little scare, with the woman thing check up, stopped the Enbrel until I got the all clear. When I started Enbrel back up I only did one 25 mg shot per week instead of the prescribed two 25 mg shots per week. I told my derm this in March, she was surprised. You know the old adage if it’s not broke don’t fix it. I did get a small P spot on my neck every once in awhile, but it’s gone a day after I give myself the injection. I did have a strange spot on the back of my wrist that pops up every once in a while that itches like crazy. My derm just shrugged it off. My doc said it wasn’t a bug bite last June, to go home and put some Triamcinolone on it and cover it with a bandage. It disappeared for about 6 months. Realized in April this year it is the spot where I had the TB test done two years ago before I started the Enbrel. I have also noticed since the second TB test in April this year the old TB spot on my wrist and P spot on my neck do not reappear. Actually I have been very sporadic on the once a week injection, since January 1^st of this year I have only given my self twenty four 25 mg injections. I was just wondering do you know, is it illegal to sell Enbrel on Ebay?  Can I donate it to some charity?  My refrigerator is now worth $5,845.  I had better call my insurance agent.  I have 9 boxes with four 25 mg shots in each box all expire the first part of next year.

Hope you are doing well and not itching. -Lorna C.

*****

Ed’s Response:  Thanks for the update, Lorna.  You are one of the lucky ones for whom Enbrel has worked well and long-term.  It’s interesting that you have been able to maintain the clearance, even when cutting your dose in half ... or less!   I hear from other Enbrel users who find the opposite necessary: doubling their dose to obtain and/or maintain clearance.

Enbrel gets flack because they were first (in the U.S.), they had trouble for nearly a year getting people started (because of manufacturing difficulties), and they have invested millions in advertising.  BUT — all these things are endurable when the product works and works well.  And it does work well for the majority of users who have written to me. 

In the line-up of current biologics, Enbrel earns special mention because, when it works, it tends to palliate both skin P and P-arthritis (which is why I wanted so bad for it to work for me). 

About those extra doses taking up space in your ‘fridge:  I doubt you could auction them on eBay — however, if no one has tried before, and you did one of those “short auctions” (a couple of days) it might finish before the eBay police got wind of it.  <Smile>  Regrettably, I don’t think you can do anything with your left over Enbrel except throw it away. 

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