Before using ixekizumab injection,
tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to ixekizumab, any other medications, or any of the ingredients in ixekizumab injection. Ask your pharmacist or check the Medication Guide for a list of the ingredients.
tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Be sure to mention any of the following: carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Epitol, Equetro, Tegretol, Teril), cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sandimmune), quinidine (in Nuedexta), sirolimus (Rapamune), tacrolimus (Astagraf, Envarsus, Prograf), and warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven). Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects. Many other medications may also interact with ixekizumab injection, so be sure to tell your doctor about all the medications you are taking, even those that do not appear on this list.
tell your doctor if you have or have ever had an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; a group of conditions that cause swelling of the lining of the intestines) such as Crohn's disease (a condition in which the body attacks the lining of the digestive tract, causing pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and fever) or ulcerative colitis (a condition which causes swelling and sores in the lining of the colon [large intestine] and rectum).
tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while using ixekizumab injection, call your doctor.
check with your doctor to see if you need to receive any vaccinations. It is important to have all vaccines appropriate for your age before beginning your treatment with ixekizumab injection. Do not have any vaccinations during your treatment without talking to your doctor.
you should know that ixekizumab injection may decrease your ability to fight infection from bacteria, viruses, and fungi and increase the risk that you will get a serious or life-threatening infection. Tell your doctor if you often get any type of infection or if you have or think you may have any type of infection now. This includes minor infections (such as open cuts or sores), infections that come and go (such as herpes or cold sores), and chronic infections that do not go away. If you experience any of the following symptoms during or shortly after your treatment with ixekizumab injection, call your doctor immediately: fever, sweats, or chills, muscle aches, shortness of breath, warm, red, or painful skin or sores on your body, diarrhea, stomach pain, frequent, urgent, or painful urination, or other signs of infection. Your doctor will probably delay your treatment with ixekizumab injection if you have an infection.
you should know that using ixekizumab injection increases the risk that you will develop tuberculosis (TB; a serious lung infection), especially if you are already infected with tuberculosis but do not have any symptoms of the disease. Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had TB, if you have lived in a country where TB is common, or if you have been around someone who has TB. Your doctor will perform a skin test to see if you have an inactive TB infection. If necessary, your doctor will give you medication to treat this infection before you start using ixekizumab injection. If you have any of the following symptoms of TB, or if you develop any of these symptoms during your treatment, call your doctor immediately: cough, coughing up blood or mucus, weakness or tiredness, weight loss, loss of appetite, chills, fever, or night sweats.