Pregnancy and enbrel

[missy1026]

hello ladies, i was wondering what your experiences were if you were on enbrel and pregnant. Did you stay on it, were you taken off? Pain get better or worse?

[Tillytop]

Hello Missy

You don't say if you are pregnant (if you are, congratulations!) or whether you are thinking about trying for a baby, but I think that whilst there are some RA drugs which are ok in pregnancy, many are not. Also some of the meds can take a while to get out of our systems once we have stopped taking them which potentially complicates matters further. Whilst I don't personally have experience of this, I would strongly recommend that you discuss this with your GP and/or rheumatologist so that you know where you stand.

TIllyx

[Tillytop]

Hello Missy

You don't say if you are pregnant (if you are, congratulations!) or whether you are thinking about trying for a baby, but I think that whilst there are some RA drugs which are ok in pregnancy, many are not. Also some of the meds can take a while to get out of our systems once we have stopped taking them which potentially complicates matters further. Whilst I don't personally have experience of this, I would strongly recommend that you discuss this with your GP and/or rheumatologist so that you know where you stand.

TIllyx

[missy1026]

Thank you. I am not pregnant now, but planning on it. I have talked to my rheumy about it and he says he had several patients on enbrel during pregnancy. Just wanted to hear others experiences. Thank you

[Victoria-NRAS Partner Moderator NRAS]

Hi Missy

It is interesting to hear that your rheumatologist has had a lot of patients who stayed on Enbrel. Because they obviously can't do studies on pregnant women and medication, the drug companies tend to advise against taking these drugs during pregnancy/when trying to conceive, because it's not tested, so hard for them to make guarantees. There is a website in the US called 'OTIS' who have information on what's known about various drugs and their use during pregnancy. Their article on etanercept may be of interest:

mothertobaby.org/fact-sheet...

Hope that helps.

Kind regards

Victoria

[missy1026 in reply to Victoria-NRAS]

Ok. Now im worried because he knows i want to start trying and didnt say anything about taking me off before i start. Now...i am from the U.S. could it be different here? He says enbrel is in the same class as tyneol and is ok.

[Victoria-NRAS Partner Moderator NRAS in reply to missy1026]

Hi Missy

Yes, it might well be different in the US, although I've also heard of cases here where people have stayed on drugs like Enbrel during the period they were trying to conceive and during pregnancy.

I am not familiar with 'Tyneol' Was that a typo? I can't find it searching online and the nearest I can find is tylanol, which is a painkiller, so not in the same class as Enbrel, which is an anti-TNF biologic drug.

If your consultant has experience of looking after patients who have stayed on this drug while trying to get pregnant then it sounds like he would be in a good place to advise you. I expect the drug has also probably been licensed for longer int he US, so they may have more data on this.

Kind regards

Victoria

(NRAS Helpline)