Worried

February 2, 2005

OK, I'm starting to get a little worried. In the past month, I've had two bouts

of apparent " strep " throat, complete with sore throat, white " gobs " on the back

of the throat, and swelling. The first time I landed in the hospital because

the swelling threatened to interfere with my breathing. Neither the hospital

nor my family dr. did a throat culture because it was so " obviously " strep. I

was put on amoxicillin, and the problem went away. I stayed off Enbrel for the

week of the problem, then went back on it.

After about a week, the problem came back, complete with soreness, white gobs

and swelling, although not quite as bad (I caught it earlier). My family dr.

did a throat culture this time, and put me on Ceftin, a different kind of

antibiotic, and a prednisone dose pack to alleviate the swelling. Again, I

stayed off the Enbrel for a week, then started back up after I finished the

antibiotic (about a week ago).

Well, now it appears that the sore throat is returning AGAIN! My throat culture

from my second visit to the dr. came back NORMAL, believe it or not, and I'm

becoming concerned. Could this be some kind of freak reaction to the Enbrel?

Or is the Enbrel just making it hard for my system to fight this whatever-it-is?

I've been on Enbrel for several months without a problem up till now.

I'm just grasping at straws trying to make sense of this. Right now, I just

have a little soreness and the sense that there is a slight bit of swelling on

one side of my throat. If the white gobs and full-blown swelling return, you'd

better believe I'm going to high-tail it to the dr. again. Maybe I just need my

tonsils taken out!!! LOL Better late than never! (I'm 49.)

Have any of you ever had a problem like this? I would appreciate any thoughts

you might have. Right now, I don't even know what to say to my dr. except " I'm

baaaack! " Thanks for all your help.

Vikki

February 2, 2005

Vikki,

Did your doctor tell you to start taking Enbrel again after just one

week? In my humble opinion, a week was not enough time to wait after

a strep infection. I stay off of Enbrel for longer than that with

just a common cold. Strep treatment usually lasts 10-14 days:

http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/strep/faq.html

If you had strep in the first place, maybe it wasn't completely gone

and the enbrel made it worse. But having a negative strep test the

second time has me stumped.

Enbrel in known to make you more susceptible to infection, but that

hasn't been the case for me. I'm lucky. Strep is nothing to mess

with, so I hope they find out what is going on.

a

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 10:40:36 -0500, Vikki Wingfield <VWAvon@...> wrote:

> OK, I'm starting to get a little worried. In the past month, I've had two

> bouts of apparent " strep " throat, complete with sore throat, white " gobs " on

> the back of the throat, and swelling. The first time I landed in the

> hospital because the swelling threatened to interfere with my breathing.

> Neither the hospital nor my family dr. did a throat culture because it was

> so " obviously " strep. I was put on amoxicillin, and the problem went away.

> I stayed off Enbrel for the week of the problem, then went back on it.

>

> After about a week, the problem came back, complete with soreness, white

> gobs and swelling, although not quite as bad (I caught it earlier). My

> family dr. did a throat culture this time, and put me on Ceftin, a different

> kind of antibiotic, and a prednisone dose pack to alleviate the swelling.

> Again, I stayed off the Enbrel for a week, then started back up after I

> finished the antibiotic (about a week ago).

>

> Well, now it appears that the sore throat is returning AGAIN! My throat

> culture from my second visit to the dr. came back NORMAL, believe it or not,

> and I'm becoming concerned. Could this be some kind of freak reaction to

> the Enbrel? Or is the Enbrel just making it hard for my system to fight

> this whatever-it-is? I've been on Enbrel for several months without a

> problem up till now.

>

> I'm just grasping at straws trying to make sense of this. Right now, I

> just have a little soreness and the sense that there is a slight bit of

> swelling on one side of my throat. If the white gobs and full-blown

> swelling return, you'd better believe I'm going to high-tail it to the dr.

> again. Maybe I just need my tonsils taken out!!! LOL Better late than

> never! (I'm 49.)

>

> Have any of you ever had a problem like this? I would appreciate any

> thoughts you might have. Right now, I don't even know what to say to my dr.

> except " I'm baaaack! " Thanks for all your help.

>

> Vikki

>

February 2, 2005

Thanks a,

Maybe it was too soon to go back on the Enbrel. I never did check with the dr.

I just assumed that since the symptoms were gone and the antibiotics finished,

that it was OK to start up again. (You know what happens when you assume...)

I'll definitely ask my rheumy about that when I see him next week. In the

meantime, I'll be keeping a close watch on my throat to see if the problem is

going to reappear again.

Vikki

Re: [ ] Worried