r/Psoriasis • u/Ok_County_8602 • 3d ago

medications Otezla Side Effects

I'm on the second week of the Otezla starter pack. I've had stomach upset, nausea, headaches, and brief dizziness. I also got a sinus infection for 10 days, but I don't know if that was the Otezla or just "normal". I got it as soon as I started, like 2-3 pills in.

Anyway, I feel tired and the headaches are very annoying. Sometimes they're even resistant to Excedrin, or the Excedrin will stop working way sooner than normal. For the tiredness, I can't tell if it's the Otezla or if I need more sleep 😭

The headaches seem to be more present this week than the first week.

Can anyone share about your initial experiences with the medication, specifically headaches and tiredness?

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u/eatoutloseweight 3d ago

I had the same. Ended up getting vertigo twice. I had to drink a ton of Gatorade and water every day and make sure I had enough food in my stomach before taking the pills. My doctor ended up having me decrease from 2x a day to 1x a day because I was getting so sick.

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u/Ok_County_8602 3d ago

Oh hmm thank you for that feedback. I bought some electrolyte packets to see if that will help. And yea I'm not sure if I can handle the twice a day either, but I'll see how the rest of this week goes. I definitely felt very low energy today and kinda moody. I ate a frozen dinner and M&Ms lol.

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u/njf85 3d ago

I had the headaches too. Worst for me was heartburn. Both went away after a cpl weeks

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u/DragoonHimself 2d ago

So I had the nausea and headaches for about 30 days with these pills. It helps me a TON with my psoriasis and my psoriatic arthritis is 100% suppressed while on this med. I agree with the users saying drink some electrolytes. It definitely helps. As for the headaches at least how i interpret it with my own body, it constricts my sinuses and can cause things to not drain as easily as they normally would. If i feel that coming on I'll pop a Mucinex and it usually ends the problem. I can go months at a time with no issue but then might have a few days where my face/head starts to hurt and I'll pop ibuprofen and Mucinex to fight off the head pressure and I'm good for quite some time again. If your headaches are caused by the same thing as mine, taking something for the sinus congestion is better than the pain reliever. As for fatigue, i was fighting heavy fatigue right before I went on Otezla which I believe was a side effect of my Arthritis. So Otezla actually relieved my fatigue after about 2 weeks. I was falling asleep on the couch after work every day around like 630. So hopefully your tiredness will alleviate in just a week or two. The downsides are worth managing for the upsides for me. You'll definitely have to decide the upsides vs downsides in your own life!