The COVID Vaccines and Autoimmune Disease
As the COVID vaccine rolls out, people with arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are wondering what this means for them. Is the COVID vaccine safe if you’re taking immunosuppressants, like methotrexate, Humira, Enbrel, and other biologics? Does it work? We don’t have all the answers to these questions, unfortunately. The vaccines are too new, and they haven’t been fully tested on immunocompromised people. That doesn’t mean we can’t find some guidance, though. So, what do we know so far about the COVID vaccine for people with autoimmune diseases? (I am not a doctor, and more importantly, I and others on the internet are not your doctor. Each person is unique,…
COVID-19 and immunosuppressants: new data
Since COVID-19 is so new, there’s a shortage of important information on how it affects people with autoimmune disease. Many of us have asked our doctors for guidance with our conditions and medications, but in the end, no one really knows how COVID-19, autoimmune diseases, and immunosuppressants interact. We need data and cases to truly understand how we should proceed. We don’t yet have any large-scale studies, but a small study from New York was released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. It can give us some much-needed insight into how coronavirus impacts those of us who have autoimmune diseases and take immunosuppressants. Where my last article…
Coronavirus and biologics: Some good news?
The current coronavirus pandemic is concerning, but it can be especially so for people who take immunosuppressant biologics, including TNF and IL-17 inhibitors. Medications like Humira, Enbrel, and Cosentyx are known to suppress the immune system—after all, that’s how they stop autoimmune disease. Does taking these medications put someone more at risk for coronavirus? There’s a lot of information out there, and nothing is conclusive, but I’m going to share what I’ve seen. Some of it has even reassured me! For an updated report from 5/2/20, see COVID-19 and immunosuppressants: new data. It provides data on biologics, oral steroids, methotrexate, and Plaquenil. For current research on Plaquenil, see We don’t…
PLEASE TREAT YOUR KID’S ARTHRITIS (or other illness)
Should kids be taking medications like Humira, Enbrel, and methotrexate? If you think the answer is no, let’s look at the opposite side of that question. Should kids be facing permanent pain and damage to their body? Because that’s what happens if Humira, Enbrel, and methotrexate are taken off the table. Childhood autoimmune diseases aren’t something to mess around with. There are a lot of reasons they may seem less serious. After all, kids can grow out of some of them. There can be periods of remission between flares, so it’s easy to think the next one will last forever. And from the outside, many kids with autoimmune diseases look…
Acronyms of arthritis 1: Treatments
Being diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis—like ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis—can seem like being thrown into a world made of cryptic letters. Acronyms are everywhere. Acronyms for types of arthritis like RA, AS, SpA, JIA; acronyms for tests like RF, ESR, CRP; acronyms for treatments like NSAID, DMARD, MTX—it seems to never end! Let’s unravel some of these tricky terms, starting with common drugs you might hear about to treat arthritis. Soon you’ll be using them like a pro! OTC OTC (over-the-counter) medications don’t require a prescription from your doctor. In the US, some fairly effective first-line arthritis treatments are available OTC, such as ibuprofen (Motrin)…
My CVS Specialty experiences are certainly “special”
My insurance requires me to use CVS Specialty Pharmacy for my biologic medications. If you’re using CVS Specialty Pharmacy, I can only imagine you’re in a similar situation. I would not use them by choice. I’ve put up with a lot of incompetence from them only because I have no choice—I can’t take my business elsewhere when I’d pay $5000 per month for my medication without insurance. And since they’ve got a captive customer base, CVS Specialty doesn’t ever have to improve anything. To summarize my review of CVS Specialty Pharmacy, they are dangerously slow, convoluted, and apathetic. This is based on my experience with unreturned phone calls, delayed prescription…
Why I stopped using Enbrel Mini
A little while back I wrote a review of my first experiences with the Enbrel Mini injection system. I stand by that review. I think Amgen, the makers of Enbrel, were onto something good when they designed the Enbrel Mini and AutoTouch. However, my Enbrel Mini has failed several times at this point, and I’m going to switch to a different Enbrel delivery method. Right now, I’ve taken Enbrel for two months. That’s 8 doses—or it should be. At this point, though, I’ve used the AutoTouch 10 times for Enbrel injections, and 3 of them have failed. A 3/10 failure rate is pretty bad. Each injection failed in the exact…
Enbrel Mini review: Easy, customizable injections
Pros: Easy to use, adjustable injection speeds, optional sounds, one-handed injectionsCons: It’s still an injection After months of fighting with my insurance company, I finally got my medicine and was able to try Enbrel Mini! It’s a bit like something out of a sci-fi movie—maybe one day all injections will be as easy as this. (The biomedical engineer in me is already thinking about what to design to make that happen. Hmm…) Humira helped me a lot for a while, but last fall I started having a lot more pain and fatigue, and my doctor suggested moving to Enbrel. Even though I’d had a bad experience with the Humira Pen…
Biologics explained
Biological medicines, or biologics, get talked about a lot. The word is casually thrown around in the rheumatology world by doctors and patients alike. What can get skipped, though, is an explanation of what, exactly, makes a biologic a biologic, and why biologics are different from other drugs. What is a biologic? A biologic medication is a medication that comes from a living source. The drug is produced by living cells and then used as medicine. This is different from traditional medications, like aspirin, Tylenol, or ibuprofen, which can be made by carefully combining chemicals (I’ve even made aspirin myself in lab class). Because of how biologics are made, the…
Info checklist for flying with Humira or Enbrel
How to fly with Humira and Enbrel is my most popular post, but I know it can be a little long. Here are the most important points, summarized in a list. Packing info Humira, Enbrel, and x-ray scanners Going through security Documentation Safe travels! -Bri I love creating resources like this, but each one takes a lot of time and research. If this post helped you, consider supporting the site with a coffee! Thanks! <3
