Flu causing flare and biologic failure?

Hi all, just wondering if anyone ever had the experience that they were in remission, get the flu and then stop responding to current treatment.

I had been on Cimzia and MTX for over a year after Humira quit working for me. I was feeling really wonderful, almost NORMAL and then I got the flu. I never really recovered my energy level after that, then my pain level came back up and I have new joint involvement. A round of steroids did not put me back into remission and now I'm getting ready to start Remicade.

The nature of TNFs. They randomly fail and we are not completely sure why. Seem like there is one biological (tnf) that works well for you and then everything else just fails fast after. Good luck with Remecaide, hope it lasts longer.

Hoping for the best. Humira was my first, it worked a little but only for 9 months. Much better response with Cimzia, but then the dramatic failure after a year of doing so well.

I think there's something to that. I noticed during the three colds I had this winter, my PsA symptoms actually decreased for the first few days of being sick, but then the PsA symptoms got worse for awhile. But during the first two colds, which both lasted several weeks, I delayed my Enbrel shot a couple times, hoping my immune system would better fight off the bug. So, I'm not sure if the colds caused my PsA symptoms to get worse, or delaying my shots caused that. One thing for certain, I dread being sick because I worry myself sick that the illness will permanently screw up the good results I've been having from Enbrel!

I know what you mean. My doctor said that I should skip my biologic if I get sick with something like the flu that could put me in the hospital, but for colds and sore throat that I could keep taking it if I don't feel too bad. I fear the same thing. Ultimately, I got the flu right after my shot, so I didn't have the option to skip it, but I did get Tamiflu right away. Then I got a bad case of tonsilitis right after that. I finally kicked my illnesses and then just never felt good again, I felt as if the sickness woke my immune system back up and that was that.