Question
My daughter is thirty years old and is taking Enbrel. When she goes off of it to try and get pregnant. When she goes off of the medicine and hopefully gets pregnant what happens to the Rhematoid arthritis? Does it usually get better or worse? Does it just depend on each person individually? Also after the hopeful successful preganancy how will the rhematoid arthritis be? Is is just a who knows?
Answer
When going off Enbrel, her RA will likely flare. Approximately 50-80% of RA patients will improve or some will go into remission at the end of the second trimester until delivery. The RA will flare again usually 2-6 weeks after delivery. The effects of Enbrel and other anti-TNF drugs is not fully known in pregnancy but the studies in small numbers of reported patients have been encouraging in that an increase in problems has not been seen.
If her RA is severe, she might discuss with her doctor about the possibility of staying on Enbrel until she becomes pregnant.
