Starting Enbrel Today

Since mid december my left knee has been getting worse. Prior to december I was already having problems with me. I've stopped walking my dogs as a proactive measure to keep the swelling down in my knee. Since December the swelling has gotten worse. During this time my stress levels have been pretty high with stress at work and the passing of my father.

This picture was taken on March 12th at the peak of my swelling.

Fluid taken from my left knee. Yuck!

Due to the major swelling and that I was set to travel for work, I booked an apt with my Doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA for March 14th. When she saw my knee she immediately knew it needed to be drained. I never have had a joint drained before. Besides some stinging it wasn't that bad. Prior to removing the needle she injected a shot of cortisone to help the inflammation. One day later my knee's swelling had dropped by 80% or more. I was able to walk very normal if not completely normal. Unfortunately that lasted for only one week. The second I got off my plane from Florida I started to notice it tightening up. This continued over the next few days. On March 29th I had another apt with my doctor. We all agreed that it was time to add another drug to my list of 25mg (10 tablets once a week) methotrexate, 600mg (3 times a day) Ibuprofen, and 1mg (1 tablet daily) Folic Acid.

So today I take my first injection of Enbrel. One shot a week. This is in addition to the above list of medication. I'll be using the push needle and hoping that is easier than the straight up needle. We'll see how it goes and I hope to track my daily progress here.