Kineret and site reactions

March 4, 2003

Hi Barb -

I am not surprised that you finally got the site reactions. So far everyone

I've encountered who is on Kineret gets them sooner or later. They can be

very dramatic to look at. I was my docs first patient, and when I showed

them to him, he called in all his nurse practitioners to see them - just so

they would be able to warn other patients.

They can get worse before they get better. Sometimes they start small and

then seem to grow to be 4 or 5 inches long and 2 or 3 inches across. They

take a long time to go away; in my case, several weeks. I didn't get a

reaction to every injection, fortunately. I also found that for the

itching, the cortisone cream did not do any good. I found another cream at

Walgreens. It is called " Anti-Itch Medicated Cream " - I think it is a

generic of Gold Bond anti-itch cream. A very thin layer of that took away

the itch.

Kineret continues to be the best drug I've ever taken, so I am willing to

put up with the inconvenience of daily injections. I've been on it for 11

months now, and I don't get site reactions anymore. They just gradually

stop happening. So if you are feeling well, take heart; ;they will get

better.

Marcia Treffman

martreff@...

March 5, 2003

Thanks Marcia and Dave for your responses. I have to agree the reactions are

quite 'dramatic' to look at. They just kind of freaked me out, suddenly

appearing after 3 weeks of injections. I really don't know if Kineret is

helping or not. I had such a nasty case of pleurisy and was on high doses of

Prednisone when I started the Kineret. I saw the doc yesterday and we're

going to give it another month now I'm down a little more on the steroids.

As for Carmen's question about combining Kineret with Enbrel or Remicade, I

have to agree with Brent; it would really set the stage for opportunistic

infections. Thanks all. Love, Barb from SLC, UT

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