Xeljanz ~ Has anyone tried it?

While I agree the meds you listed do not work, I am surprised that vicodin and predisone is not on your list. They we the best for me till my a1c was getting high because of the predisone. Just what I think, if you have not tried daily predisone and the back-up vicodin for the flare ups. I recommend that but only good for a couple years till a1c climbs then gottta stop do not need to have diabetes too. If you are already diabetic then skip this recommendation.

Sorry pgro...yes, I have done my rounds with Prednisone (I like to refer to myself as a PredHead...much like a Meth or Crack head...only Prednisone is my drug of choice! Haha) My rheumy limited my rounds of Prednisone because he did not want me to become completely dependant on it. I take Tramadol for my breakthrough pain, but I am extremely hard-headed, and work a physically demanding job (Cosmetologist). I wanted medicine that would slow the progression of the disease, and not just mask my symptoms.

As far as an update on the Xeljanz...I am 20 days in and am a TRUE believer! This is my miracle med!
I take 5mg, twice daily; along with Plaquenil and Aleve twice a day. I have only taken a couple Tramadol (mainly at bedtime) since I've started the X. I am feeling so fantastic that there have been several days I forget to take my meds until around noon...where as a month ago, I was reaching for them as soon as I could pull my aching, stiff body out of bed.

I realize that RA is such a person-specific disease, and no two treatment plans are going to work the same on every person...I can vouch for my regimen this far!

Auerica, I know this is an older post so I hope you see this. I am fairly new and was searching the forums for any Xeljanz users. I saw your post and see that it is working for you. How long did it take to see any difference? I know everyone is different but I am hoping to get an idea. I just started taking it on Monday so I know it is probably too soon to tell a difference.

I was on it for a couple weeks but i had a severe reaction to it and my stomach swelled up very bad and was incredibly painfull. This started after about a week but it was helping noticeably to that point. I hope that it does the trick for you, i took enbrel for 12 years so i know how much it can help to find one that works. Take care!

I was on it for 5 months last year and it did not work at all. So I moved onto another drug that only partially works. I have ultra severe RA, and my rheumatologist said my body destroys the drugs. So it is almost impossible to find something that works, these days.

I hope it works for the people who are just starting it. It would have been a nice way to go into remission

My Rheumy has been wanting me to start Xeljanz for over a year but other stuff just kept happening.
I finally was able to start it in April. Today, I was thinking that it hasn't been working yet and mentioned that to my Hubby. Granted, I had to go off of it for 2 weeks due to minor infections which are now gone. My Hubby did remind me that I was in a lot worse pain prior to going on Xeljanz. True, I couldn't get out of bed or off the couch or chair without his solid lift or to try to walk without tears. So soon, I forgot. But I also reminded him that I was tapering off the non-working Tramadol and put on Morphine at the same time as the Xeljanz. Then again I was off the X for those 2 weeks and was starting to feel worse again but that could have been due to the barometric pressure. I hope it is working!

As far as side effects, I had a slight throbbing pressure on the left side of my head for about 2 weeks. Now that you mention it RDG1954, I have had the occasional muscle tightening in my legs at night which I never had before. It's really annoying, so I have to get up and walk around for a half hour. I hadn't associated that with the Xeljanz. Interesting! I think my extra fatigue is from the Morphine.

Prior to the X, I was trying to get rid of mouth ulcers for a good amount of time. I even used 3 or 4 bottles of that Magic Mouthwash which moved the sores from the right side of my mouth to the left side. That's magical! After starting the Xeljanz the sores disappeared. Yay! That's a big plus since I need to be on it.


"RA is a terrible disease, and it have affected my life in ridiculous ways." We all feel that way. It has wrecked most of our lives.

I often look back at how I was before 34 years ago. :/

Stay upbeat as much as you can RDG1954. Good for you...That's key. I hope that you can get more than some comfort, as well as everyone else with this horrid disease.