This drug has been incredible! I started taking this after 10 years on azathioprine, which had minimal efficacy for my mouth ulcers caused by my Behçet’s. I used to get between 5-10 oral ulcerations per month and 10-20 when I didn’t take azathioprine. I will say that as a 120 pound 26yo female the dosage as I began the Otezla starter packet was very high and my doctor and I decided to go with half the dosage after the starter packet due to excessive vomiting. I also take my Otezla with a zofran pill each night bc for me the nausea has never gone away (after 7 months of taking it). After the first three months with half the dosage and consistently taking Zofran, the side effects were minimal. However I have had ONE mouth ulcer in those seven months (because I forgot to take Otezla for two days on vacation). That has been my only mouth ulcer all these months! After living 26 years with near constant mouth ulcerations I can only believe this drug is a miracle. I never imagined being able to eat citrus with zero consequences - not getting scared I would have five canker sores the next day after a ball hit me in the mouth. Not having difficulty eating on dates or at family events or not being able to talk because the sores were so painful. This has allowed me to live my life more joyfully and I am so grateful my doctors recommended Otezla to me.
My psoriasis showed up back in 2015, coincidentally just after I came down with H1N1 back then. Started with dry patches on my fingertips, then moved to my hands and palms. Then it showed up on the soles of my feet. Deeply cracked skin on my palms and my feet. First tried steroid creams which didn't work. Finally the insurance company agreed to cover Otezla. It was a hard medicine to work up to tolerate. Stomach issues where my main problem. Would have loved to have had the weight loss, but wasn't in that target group I suppose. Over time, maybe 7 months?, my feet began to clear up along with my hands. It never did fully go away, but it was at least easier to manage than having fissures in my skin. I've been on it ever since, twice a day, and it does keep the disease at bay. I can easily manage what's left using moisturizing creams.
Severe side effects over 2 years: Tinnitis, insomnia, constipation Ive never had before in 80 years, and pamphlets and dr say diarrhea.
I was put on a starter pack and everything was going well till I started taking the 30 mg 2x a day. I was so fatigued and tired just to carry my purse it was exhausting. I had to sleep most days plus the nights. I stayed on the 60mg a day and a half. I absolutely couldn't deal with the severe issues. Would I recommend maybe but it isn't for me.
The billing is complicated and ridiculous causing me to go off for several months until another method of payment was figured out. The first long period on it and it did maybe be OK? the second long-term on it and it did worse than OK. Skin never did clear up completely either time- but it was more about the arthritis anyway. Doctor said to use this particular drug as it would not cause ulcerative colitis to come back like others might, but actually it eventually came back. (And I had been in remission more than a decade.). Also got an ear infection that was so bad, I needed a tube at 52 years of age… which tore a 30% hole in the eardrum, which is not closing on its own, and has caused many visits to the ENT. And most recent, they are now telling me, (even though I’ve already done this in the past) that I cannot get renew a co-pay card until I switch insurance altogether (i.e. new job). So now I am forced to go off of it completely again with only two pills remaining so I cannot wean off properly. And the reason partially for this is that you have to manually refill the prescription every single month- you cannot have an ongoing auto refill.
For those that have some diarrhea issues try taking a daily probiotic. I started Otezla just over two years ago and I had some issues with diarrhea here and there then about 4 months ago I started taking a daily probiotic and it has helped out tremendously. I have occasional issues but it's so much better.
I've been taking Otezla for about a month and a half today. Severe plaque psoriasis could be seen on my elbows and legs. I had sporadic patches on my stomach, back, and scalp as well. This medication, in combination with the use of a topical steroid cream, has virtually cleared up my elbows, chest, back, and scalp. My legs, where the psoriasis was more severe, has cleared up about 75% and is the only place I need to use a topical steroid cream now. I do have light diarrhea on this medication. I've tried taking it both with and without food, but I do not usually see a big difference. I feared I might also have rheumatoid arthritis, as my body was feeling more and more run down as the years went (in my joints and hands). I do believe this medication is also helping in that regard. If your stomach can tolerate it, I would definitely recommend it. After only a month and a half, I've noticed marked improvements!
I have taken Otezla for about 3 yrs now and am happy with this product however I am experiencing severe bouts of diarrhea. I have had an embarrassing episode recently and was wondering if anyone else could maybe share a solution? I have tried Imodium AD.
Otezla cleared up some of my psoriasis but not all. The issue I have with Otezla is their copay program which is incredibly slow, inefficient, and opaque (no communication or updates). I spent about two days a week on the phone with their support team and it took 5 weeks to get my copay reimbursement. I would rather just let my psoriasis flare up then have to deal with the copay program again.
Husband taking otezla and wife got pregnant and baby diagnosed with genetic disorder. Twice. Has anyone else had this happen?
I have had gutta psoriasis since 1974. The last 2 years it has gotten worse with stress. I got new insurance and a new dermatologist. I was put on Otezla and took it for 3 months giving it a chance to see improvement. I had to stop taking it due to my skin has becoming unbearably dry and itchy with more spots.
I have both mouth ulcers and moderate plaque psoriasis. I originally took Otezla to help with psoriasis but noticed it treated a condition called Bechet's Syndrome. I didn't even know what that was and read that it was a condition that caused mouth ulcers. I would get mouth ulcers occasionally but after I quit smoking 10 years ago, I was getting ulcers all the time one after the other on the inside of my cheeks, on my gums, on the side of my tongue, and in my throat. Since I started taking Otezla in December of 2021, I haven't had a single mouth ulcer. It's cleared my moderate plaque psoriasis by about 90% and I just use a weak steroid ointment on certain parts of my body occasionally. I have had occasional bowel issues with the medicine but I try to take it with food and in the morning I try to take it with milk or eat a banana with it. Just the fact that it's cleared my mouth ulcers is great so that I can eat spicy foods and anything else and not have to worry about developing an ulcer. But it works on my psoriasis and I don't have to keep applying ointments all the time is fantastic.
Psoriasis came out of the blue around March of 2021. I started taking Otezla the end of 2021 or early 2022. I worked up to 60 mg. I did have the initial side effects of some diarrhea and feeling tired but after about a month, that went away. The condition started disappearing in a miraculous fashion but after about 6 months, it cleared 100% across my entire body. This has worked miracles. I often only take 30 mg but no recurrences whatsoever. This has been a miracle. I had been in agony. It was on my head, legs, back and some on stomach. It never made its ugly way to my face or arms but I suspect that given time, it would have. I have zero side effects now. I highly recommend but you have to hang in there.
I have been on 30 mg daily for 2 months. Mild nausea, headaches at first. I was told it would be 5 months before the affect would be known. Really see no benefits to scalp psoriasis. PsA in remission after chemo. I was hoping this would be the answer for treatment, as I had to stop biologics and methotrexate after lymphoma.
I had less pain starting at three weeks. I had headache, and extreme nausea, no vomiting. If I took the 30mg 2 times each day, within an hour of morning dosage I would be dizzying nauseous. I would stagger, stumble fall. I called the drug provider and told them I was having low blood pressure. They assured me that was not a side effect. I searched the internet for independent reviews, but found none. I had stopped taking my BP med early in treatment. I called Otezlia and asked them about low BP they assured me that was not a side effect. I asked if low blood sugar was a side effect was assured that was not a side effect. I could only take 30 MG at bedtime and still had the walking/ dizziness, low BP. I took over a year. Then started searching internet again and low and behold I found that Otezla did cause some people low BP and low glucose. There had been deaths cause by patients BP bottoming out. The company lied to me. My glucose was low the entire time. I got out of bed and drank something sweet to start my day. I finally got fed up and stopped it.
Took this medication for about a year. Had diarrhea and nausea everyday for the first 3 months. Then after some journaling and experimenting, I found that when i don't drink much water while taking it that lowers the chances of those side effects. But eventually it started affecting my mood and I didn't feel good taking it. I was also on methotrexate since I have both lupus and psoriasis. So can't say for sure if it was otezla or the methotrexate that helped. I still got occasional psoriasis flares mostly on my scalp throughout this time. Joint pain was on and off too
I took 3 doses of this medication and my life went to hell. Severe diarrhea, which, honestly, I could live with. But my pain went from severe to nuclear, and my insomnia, which is already really bad, went horrible. I’ve had 7 surgeries and I would do each and every one again before I take this medication again.
3 months ago I got Otezla from my friend, who swore at it calming it cleared his skin in just a month. I was suspicious. I am someone who has psoriasis for almost 20 years and there is no treatment that I didn't try in USA or in Europe and I learnt that little I can do when it comes to this condition. It has its own timing and unpredictable nature. I googled about Otezla and was terrified of so many bed reviews about side effects, that I put pills in drawers for 2 months too scared to take them. Eventually, summer came, my psoriasis on legs got even worse, I was really ashamed to be in dress or shorts, not to mention how itchy was and almost bloody look like. I forgot what it was like having clean skin on legs and I decided to risk and take pills. I got 30g pills, so first week I took only one time in morning. I was anxiously waiting for side effect to kick in. Today is a full month of me taking the pills. Last three weeks I take 60g per day. Side effects? One day mild diarrhea. I did notice I go more frequently to restroom, but it's far from some serious issue for my daily activities.No nausea, no headache, nothing! I'm perfectly fine! As for my psoriasis....I thought I will never see my knees again, but for the first time in the past 10 years, I can see the glimpse of it. I definitely see an improvement and I believe within next two months I might be fully cleared. I'm taking pictures of my legs every week for comparison and asking people around me to take a look, as my vision can be clouded due to desperate desire to be clean. Everybody told me keep with the therapy, it works! I will post the update next month and hopefully my review will start with '' My skin is clean''.
It worked for a while but the severe diahhria made me discontinue.