I have not been on here for a while now and since the last time I ended up stopping my Leflunomide and Sulfasalazine as I felt so ill and no longer knew if it was the illness or the medication! As a result my Rheumy finally agreed to put me on a biologic and I have now been on Cimzia for 3 months!
I have no problem at all with the injection or adverse reactions to it, however, I find the couple of days after the injection I can feel like I have been hit by a train, with serious fatigue and joint pain! By the 3rd day though I am much better and have to say that on Cimzia I am better than I have been in years! Friends and family have all commented on my movement, walking etc and have said they have not seen me so good for so long! I no longer limp/shuffle like an old woman and it no longer takes me several hours in a morning to "get moving" from the stiffness.I have even been able to mow my own large lawn for the first time in years.....sounds like nothing to most but I am sure you will appreciate how much something like that means!!
A couple of days before my next injection is due (I inject every 2 weeks) I tend to go down hill and get a stark reminder of the pain, stiffness etc that I had been suffering for so many years, but, to have 10 good days out of 14 is good enough for me!!
I was told by my Rheumy that they have seen people with amazing results after 1/2 injections whereas others it can take months and at 3 months in she has told me it is still very early days for me too!
For those on Cimzia who do not feel it is working, please remember that we all have different reactions to different drugs and there are other Biologics that may suit you better.
I am in the UK so am aware I have a much easier time of being prescribed different medications as and when needed as our NHS is free and I pay nothing for the drugs and fully appreciate how lucky I now am to be given this drug.
Tracy, I have same choice on my plate either Humera or cimzia or remicade. No remicade for me saving it for last resort insurance. Currently taking enbrel but not getting the relief or benefiting much on it. My question is what made you pick it? They are all so similar I don’t know how to choose.
I didn't get to pick...in UK it tends to be the Rheumy who just puts you on the drug they decide on and then, if it doesn't appear to be working, they will change it to another one.
I have heard great things about cimzia, and for several insurance companies it is their formulary 1st choice. There are other considerations in choosing a med worth considering. It is rare that we pick a bio and its our med for life....... most of us will burn through a few. Two factors for me are age and symptoms. One of the sacariest things we face is eye involvement. Not all bios are effective against eyes. I didn't have eye involvement for a while When I burned through enbrel, you can not imagine how thankful I was Humira (very effective for eyes) was tan rested and waiting when my eyes went caw caw. what a mess IF I had started with humira and that was the one I burned through.......
Age (in the USA) is another consideration. You have to buy a pretty pricey supplement to get good coverage for biologics under medicare. The IV types (remicaid etc) are covered under part B saving about 3 grand a year out of pocket. In any event as you decude, take a long term view.
Thanks tntlamb. About remicade that’s exactly why I want to save it for last. Once my rheumy decided to go to a bio she handed me a list of 5 with little info except we it her mtx was needed with it and how it is administered. Then she told me to let her know which one I wanted to try at my next appointment. Other than my personal research and what I learn here I am given almost no direction on how to pick one. I am leaning to humera because I am starting eye issues and it is well covered on my plan as was embrel.
I am at 2.5 months now on cimzia, still have more bad days then good. Today was the first good day I had in a while. I am going to keep taking it for a while as a patient told me it took almost a yr Before she felt some improvement.
I chose cimzia as my ins said I could try humira or that. Dr said to try cimzia first.
Can I ask what type of eye symptoms do you all have. I’ve had eye problems for years but every dr told me it wasn’t related to P,which I know is not correct.
Hi Rachael, as Minx says here in the UK we don't get much (if any!) say in which bio we get put on. The treatment guidelines say, in fact, that doctors must start with the cheapest which is, I understand, Humira. Remicade is the most expensive here and because of the need to provide hospital facilities for the infusions it is the treatment of last resort.
Interestingly the health body which issues treatment guidelines in the UK haven't actually issued guidance instructions for Cimzia for PsA although I believe it is accessible when other biologics have failed (I'm going to post something about this on Cuppa House for our UK members). But, of course, if any of our individual health authorities are willing to fund a drug the doctors don't then have their hands tied quite so much and they can make a clinical decision from everything that is available.
As tntlamb says some of the bios are more effective on some symptoms that others, I've heard a lot here about Humira and eyes and also believe that here in the UK it is the first bio of choice for psoriasis. I can't comment on this from a personal perspective as I wasn't on it long enough and at the time my psoriasis was well controlled by leflunomide. But that might be another consideration for you. The doc I'm going to mention next told me that any of the monoclonal anti-tnf's work to some extent on skin, although this hasn't been my own experience with Simponi (golimumab).
I recently had a second opinion review/assessment with the UK's leading PsA specialist who told me that as I can't take methotrexate and so have my bio (currently Simponi) as a mono-therapy, there is a slight benefit to Enbrel as it is a soluble receptor which may have some benefits for people who are not taking DMARDS in terms of immunogenicity.
And therein ends what I know about individual bios. I would not want to be in a position where I had to make this choice for myself from a list, and certainly not so early on in my treatment experience. I thought the whole point of doctors training and clinical judgement was to use it to appropriately prescribe treatments for individual patients??????? But hey, I'm fast reaching the point where less and less surprises me :-)