its good that you are checking the side effects, dont just fall for any medication, remember Lupus is still in a research stage, make sure the medication is more for your benifit. long term side effects are still unknown, because most of this meds are less than 15yrs old.

i just want to add that everyone responds differently to different drugs. But, I was also afraid because they said that benlysta was not effective for African Americans. But it actually worked too well for me. So just because some people have bad reactions, it does not mean that you will too. But, like you, I wish there were more options for Lupus drugs that were specifically tailored to our disease.

I took the Benlysta infusion monthly for about 8 months. Like I said, I loved it. I had no major side effects. I did notice that the last week before my infusion, I would start to look forward to the infusion. The day after the infusion, I went back to work with no problems or issues too. The only problem that I had was that I kept catching colds that require antibiotics. I think it is because they also left me on the cellcept and that was too much immune suppression. Now that they have the injectable version, I am expecting that they will be able to adjust the dose better to prevent me from catching colds. Maybe they will also be able to get me completely off of the cellcept too.

You can find out more about the different types of benlysta at the Benlysta.com website. They have a huge program of support and you can even talk to a nurse about the drug. They also have copay assistance, so I never had to pay for the drug. I only paid for the infusions center office visit.

I did well on Benlysta. I stopped because it dropped my immune system to low, and I kept gettingg colds. I just asked the doctor again to put my on the injectable version. I am looking forward to treatment. So far cellcept, methotrexate, azithioprine, and plaquenil has not worked well for me.

My niece is on Benlysta & has had no side effects. When she gets her infusion she is in bed for 2 days. Extremely tired.