I have blown through Enbrel, Humira, Remicaide, Simponi, Arava, Rituxan and Actemra and Prednisone and Methotrexate. My Rheumatologist said right now there is nothing left to try. I asked him if I could try Enbrel again and he said yes. I just wanted to know if anyone out there has gone back to a drug that originally worked. Thanks for your input. Enbrel worked like a miracle drug for me for 8 years but I have been off of it for over 4 years.
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Dear mamartin,
I have not yet had this experienced this with a biologic, and surely you must be frustrated. I had tried gabapentin first for nerve pain, it made me reel, like I was spinning, so it was on to Lyrica, that makes me swell, Rheumatologist only wanted me to take about 75 mg at night. No help for Sciatica. So I was going to try the gabapentin again, Rheumy said if you couldn't take it then, you won't be able to take it now. I take Lyrica still at 225 mg, when I swell badly I have to just go off it for a day or two, the swelling goes down, and I take it again. These are chemical meds though, not biologics, and I suffered a side effect, rather than it not working, or no longer working.
Now, on the flip side of that, an allergist who treated me for a bad bee sting once told me that the body can change, very quickly, I could go from not being allergic to something like poison ivy, and all of the sudden get it and it could be severe, while bee stings may not bother me for years on end, then after a long period of time be stung again and not get an ambulance quick enough.
This may have absolutely no relavance to your situation, but I wanted to respond.
Surely your Rheumatologist has much more knowledge than I. It is worth a shot, maybe one can work now!
Good luck to you! I wish you the very best! Hopefully someone with a better answer will respond.
SK
Hi, mamartin. I was a participant in a clinical study for Enbrel (for psoriasis, as I didn't have arthritis yet). The study went for about 9 months. I had VERY GOOD results from Enbrel during the study. So, when I found out a couple of years later that I have psoriatic arthritis, Enbrel was the first drug I went for. I was getting it from a dermatologist, the same one who performed the study. I had excellent results again from Enbrel, in combination with methotrexate, for a little over a year, but then it seemed to stop working. I started seeing a rheumatologist at that time, and he put me on Remicade infusions (every 6 weeks). I had to "wash-out" the Enbrel for 3 weeks, and it was during that time period that I learned just how much Enbrel HAD been helping! My pain level went from around 6 out of 10 to the top of the charts!
Unfortunately, Remicade was a waste of time. It never did anything for me, so now we're trying Humira. I've been on it for 8 weeks, and I think it might be helping.
Hello, No i have not gone back to a drug yet lol but i would deff try if it worked that good before then i should again i would if i was you bc we all want relief thats for sure let me know how it works i just started humira last week and no results yet so idk but thanks