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Is anyone else taking Humira, Enbrel, Remicade, etc also experiencing more frequent colds and illnesses?
I have been taking Humira for just over a year, a 40mg shot every other week. For the past three months, like clockwork, I have gotten an upper respiratory infection once a month. I'm not getting really sick, I've only had to take two days off total. But up until this year I rarely got colds and I always get a flu shot every year just in case.
When I asked my rheumatologist, she said it's unrelated, that these drugs do increase the risk of serious infections like pneumonia but not URIs. That's just illogical to me. I worry about the coming winter and have been considering cutting back or stopping the medication, even though my doctor wants to double my dosage.
Please respond if you are also experiencing more colds and illnesses. I'd like to know if this is a pretty common thing with folks taking these meds.
I was diagnosed a year ago with RA and after trying the methotrexate and prednisone (I hate the side effects) I tried Remicade for around 8 months. I have never gotten sick more than when I was on Remicade. I got strep throat twice during that time period! I am currently looking for new treatments and I am so happy I have found this forum, because my RA isn't letting up and some days are extremely hard because I am used to being so active. I hope that helped a little, but I definatel think the medications cause wore side effects, but the pain is so hard to live with it is a bitter sweet thing.
I am on Enbrel and have gotten the cold and flu soo many times this past winter ! I even got bronchitis, I never thought that TNF-inhibitors could have something to do with it but it makes sense. Thans for sharing
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