Etanercept Side Effects

Severe side effects:

Signs of infection such as: fever, chills, persistent sore throat, persistent cough, night sweats, trouble breathing, painful/frequent urination, unusual vaginal discharge, white patches in the mouth
rash on nose and cheeks
dizziness and unsteadiness.
extreme fatigue and have pale skin.
signs of hair loss and vision changes.
Swelling of the arms/legs, persistent nausea/vomiting and unusual bruising/bleeding.
severe headaches, seizures and/or metal/mood changes.
sudden unexplained muscle weakness
numbness/tingling of the hands/feet.
severe stomach/abdominal pain
dark urine and yellowing eyes/skin.

Common side effects:

mild to moderate itching, pain, swelling and redness at the site of injection
headaches, dizziness, nasal and throat irritation are other common side effects.

Allergic reaction symptoms:

rashes
itching/swelling, specially on the face/tongue/throat
dizzy and trouble breathing

Warnings & Recalls for Etanercept

Warnings

Because etanercept works by blocking the immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. This may make you more likely to get a serious (rarely fatal) infection such as fungal infections, bacterial infections including tuberculosis. It may make any infection you have worse.
Tell your doctor your medical history, specially past/recent/current infections. Also make sure to tell your doctor if you have recently lived or traveled to areas where certain fungal infections are common or have been in contact with someone with tuberculosis.

Contraindications:
Contraindications include Abatacept, Anakinra, Cyclophosphamide, Immunosuppressive agents, Sulfasalazine, Tocilizumab, and any live vaccines.

Family Planning:
The FDA has classified Etanercept in pregnancy category B, meaning it is unknown whether the drug will harm a fetus or not. Etanercept is recommended in pregnant patients ONLY WHEN the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks to the fetus.

It is also unknown if Etanercept is passed through breastmilk.

Etanercept Treatment and Use

What is Etanercept?

Etanercept is a biopharmaceutical that treats autoimmune diseases by interfering with tumor necrosis factor by acting as a TNF inhibitor. It is a fusion protein produced by recombinant DNA. It is prescribed as primary treatment to reduce pain, swelling, and tenderness of joints resulting from moderate to severe heumatoid arthritis in adults. It may also be used when rheumatoid arthritis hasn’t responded well to other drugs.

How does Etanercept work?

Etanercept also is used to reduce signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active, polyarticular-course, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in children who have had an inadequate response to one or more disease-modifying drugs. It’s a TNF blocker that works by blocking the protein found in the body that causes inflammation.

Dosage information

Use the proper technique that your health care provider will teach you which is to inject deep under the skin and NOT into the muscle. Make sure to rotate the site of the injection and not to inject into areas where the skin is tender, bruised, red or hard. Make sure to avoid areas that have stretch marks and scars. Try not to inject directly into any raised, red, thick, or scaly skin patches if you have psoriasis.

Do NOT skip any dosages. If you miss one contact your doctor right away to find out when to take the next dose. Contact your health care provider if you have any questions about how to use etanercept.

Injections come in 25 mg solutions, 50 mg solutsions and lyophilized powder for a solution of 25 mg.

Other Names for Etanercept

Brand Name:

Enbrel