Enbrel and methotrexate/lefludamide

Hello all. I am fairly new to this forum. I was tried on methotrexate which I was not able to tolerate due to severe side effects. I note a lot of people are put on other meds along with Enbrel, mainly methotrexate or lefludamide. What is the reason for this? What if one cannot tolerate either of those two? What other medications are used with Enbrel for the long-haul (not just for occasional pain flares) if methotrexate/lefludamide are not tolerated? Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

Hi , although there is a lot of debate about the dangers of prednisone I am on a small co-dose of 6 mg a day with Enbrel and have been for some time without any problems and certainly an improvement in life quality.

The DMARDs are used in conjunction with the biologics in order to lower the immune response and slow down the development of antibodies to the biologic. There are other disease modifying drugs, but MTX is most commonly used in conjunction with the biologics.

Typically, the combination of MTX and biological is used in severe cases of RA where one treatment is not enough. While Enbrel and Humira may have been designed to be taken with MTX, there is still a debate on if they extend their lifetime in any meaningful way.