Dealing with cold symptoms from cosentyx

[vicki]

Greetings from New Jersey - land of extortionate property taxes and horrific commutes.     

     I have been taking Cosentyx for five months.  

     In that time I am constantly exhausted, and have cold symptoms including sore throat, nasal congestion, headaches,  and fatigue.  

     Is anyone else out there having these issues, and, if so (and more importantly!)  how do you deal with them?  My MD told me I just have to get used to it and deal with it.  I would like to know if anyone has found a way to deal with these issues. 

     Thanking you in advance, 

            -Vicki

[jiml]

Hi  Vicki   to the club, I’m afraid I can’t help you as I haven’t used cosentyx but can I ask if the cosentyx has helped your Psoriasis?
The side effects you mention are listed as common side effects, see here Cosentyx (secukinumab) but I would think that if the side effects are difficult to bear then it’s time for a change to another bio such as Taltz see here Taltz (ixekizumab)
I know we have several members on Cosentyx and I’m sure you will get replies from them that might be more helpful
Good Luck
Jim

[Fred]

I have had no problems with Cosentyx, but did find when I first started using the Bio's I got the symptoms you describe. The first ones were the worst and as I went on I found my body got used to them.

There isn't much you can do, but eventually your body will get used to it and the clear skin will help take your mind off it. I would recommend keep an eye on it though and make some notes so you can see if it's getting any better as time goes by, if it does get worse then you may have to review it. You are welcome to keep notes in this thread for future reference or start another one if you wish, a lot of our members do and they find it helps to have something to look back on.

Welcome to Psoriasis Club by the way.

Regards.

Fred.

*I'll move this thread to Prescribed Treatments For Psoriasis as it will get noticed better there.

[Turnedlight]

Hi nice to meet you

Is cosentyx the first bio you have tried? I'm on taltz and getting a lot of colds. But on Stelara I was fine. Whether you can live with the side effects is really up to you I would have thought, not the doc.. is your doc a dermatologist?

[vicki]

Thank you for the welcoming replies.
Yes I go to a dermatologist and I hope I didn't make her sound cold and uncaring in my initial post. She is wonderful and supportive but basically told me the side effects will either go away of I Will have to make a decision to go off of cosentyx. 
I have had psoriasis almost all of my life. I have tried everything! Including enbril (spelling?) which as you know are also self injectibles.
I had tried otezla when it came out but that made me so sick I had no choice but to go off of it. The enbril worked - all of these worked! -  but that impacted my immune system so much that I had to stop.
Cosentyx has cleared up my psoriasis almost 100%! I love that and do concentrate on that. But I am exhausted all the time and wake up every day feeling that I have a vicious cold. I have a very active life and it's hard to get through the days. But I am very grateful to have a disease such as psoriasis rather than one of the too many life threatening diseases that I have watched loved ones suffer through. I'll Take psoraisis! I almost feel guilty complaining about the side effects.
I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone had any advise as to coping with the cosentyx side effects.
My brother swears by wrapping his arms and legs in plastic wrap. Maybe low tech, non pharmaceutical treatments are the way to go. No side effects.
Vicki

[Fred]

What about Stelara  ? it has a different target than Enbrel and Cosentyx.

Don't feel guilty about complaining, I think we all would like a 100% fix and the nearer we get to it the the more we expect from the next thing we try. I expect Cosentyx to give 100% freedom from both psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, it's not quiet doing it for the psoriasis but excellent for the psoriatic arthritis so yes I complain about the little bit of psoriasis I have.

Some get by on non pharmaceutical, but if you look on Natural Treatments For Psoriasis not many come back to update so I'm not so sure. Alan and Bill though both show good results from the DIY approach you may be interested in their threads if you want to go that way:

How I Cured My Psoriasis By Diet

Bill's pure dimethylfumarate thread

[vicki]

Ok so a few people have mentioned Stelara. Maybe I should talk to my doc about that.
When do we get a treatment that doesn't have side effects? Rhetorical question.
But I went to a wedding this weekend and didn't wear black tights and man it felt good!
Small victories.

[Caroline]

Ok so a few people have mentioned Stelara. Maybe I should talk to my doc about that.
When do we get a treatment that doesn't have side effects? Rhetorical question.
But I went to a wedding this weekend and didn't wear black tights and man it felt good!
Small victories.

Really Good to hear...

And yes, I think every treatment has its side effects.

[jiml]

As you say  Vicki “Small victories” but they do have an uplifting effect. The joy of not hiding your body and being comfortable is great ..... but dampened a bit by the side effects for you .
I hope the side effects calm down so you can stick with cosentyx and not have to consider a change

[Fred]

Small victories.

Small victories are like Little Acorns. Keep it up.