For the last 2 months, when I’m about a week away from my next Taltz injection, (every 28 days) I start to flare. Increased pain and morning stiffness that takes way longer to fade. Do some biologics run out of steam before the next injection?
It’s pretty standard. I used to feel the same on Cosentyx. I knew when I was in week 4 always.
Thanks. I guess there advantages to a daily med like Rinvoq. The dosage is always the same. How are you @Poo_therapy? Are you pretty stable, no major changes in your health condition?
I didn’t have much luck with Taltz. it probably was the least effective I tried.
Your mileage may vary.
Thanks. How is Rinvoq working for you?
Cosentyx ran out of juice for me rather dramatically over the summer. Now doing the wash out period since it lasts so long in your system before starting Tremfya. Doing surprisingly well on no meds presently thankfully.
That’s encouraging that you are managing well between meds. Does it tempt you to keep going without biologics and see if the mystery of PsA has you in remission? Is there some logic for Tremfya to be the next med or just a stab in the dark?
Every biologic I’ve been on didn’t make it the full time, 2 weeks, a month, 8 weeks, etc. Normally the 4-5 days before an injection were bothersome. Right now I am on Humira and the 3 days before my injection are painful.
I switched to Simponi so Medicare would pay for it. I get it by infusion so doc can dose it by my weight. It has been three months. It seems to be doing okay.
Rinvoq worked pretty well. It got rid of terrible costocondritis I had. I just couldn’t afford it (well, it wasn;t worth what it would cost) now that I am on Medicare. The Co Pay cards cannot be used if you are on Medicare. Since I have to get Simponi in the offce, Medicare pays for it. That makes sense???
Every biologic is a stab in the dark as the science isn’t there yet to be able to say if can work for each individual patient. The science on this is developing though mainly in cancer patients for now but at least the science is coming.
There is logic to trying Tremfya of sorts. I can’t continue with IL17 biologics just anyway because I also have Crohn’s and it’s not recommended. I stayed on Cosentyx because it was likely Cosentyx didn’t cause my Crohn’s as it can do but our protocols on prescribing in the UK would have made it difficult to get funding for further IL17 biologics given my Crohn’s diagnosis. Which sadly means I miss out on the new biologic called Bimekizumab or its brand name Bimzelx which titivates the entire of IL17 and is currently being feted as the next best thing.
I have quite a lot of spinal involvement in my PsA so something like Stelera wasnt recommended. And since I’ve done better on IL biologics rather than anti-TFNa biologics, Tremfya which titivates IL23 was next on the list on type of biologics I’m on. Years ago I was going to be involved in research for it, but I fractured my pelvis (osteoporosis issues) so couldn’t do the research. So it makes sense to try it now. It takes two years to reach full efficacy and its first review is at 24 weeks so it’s not fasting acting by any stetch of the imagination. So it’s just as well I doing OK presently besides some annoying tendon issues going on in one foot.
Am I tempted not to medicate PsA? No not on your nelly! PsA is so insiduous and sneaky I wouldn’t dream of it. There simply is never a sustainable remission with PsA although it can have lots of pretend ones. It tends to come back and bite you on the bum hard. I’d rather try and stay ahead of it as much as I possibly can. I’ve been fairly successful at doing that this far since 2016 (despite so few meds actually working really well for me) so it would be silly to drop the ball now. I had four and a half years of magic on Cosentyx, so here’s hoping I’m lucky again.
Excellent infor for all of us @Poo_therapy, your wealth of experience and knowledge shines, thanks for being so diligent in replying to all those who post here. Sure miss some of the other “old timers” from when this forum was in its early days. Certainly hope for a long run with Tremfya for you.
Thank you. It’s not experience any of us wants though but it’s worth sharing and trying to help others. And it’s Tremfya which is next for me - since Cosentyx stopped working.