Been told by rheumatologist to go on a TNF inhibiting anti-inflammatory biologic medication. As the Vimovo/MTX combo isnt working. So what I am asking is, which one in your experience works best?
I.E. side effects and percentage gain of physical improvement.
Thanks
Hi there, D-man! The depressing truth is, there is no answer to your question! Every person reacts to the biologics differently: what works great for one may be a total non-starter for another. It takes at least a three month trial to find out. The very good news is that, compared to the older DMARDs (mtx, ssz, hcq, lef) the biologics have very few side effects. Most people tolerate them really well, and response tends to be all-or-nothing. The patient information does sound terrifying, but in fact the incidence of problems with the anti-TNF biologics is very low. The only SE that seems to be common is a site reaction -- an itchy patch where you inject.
Which would I choose? I guess it's a toss up, but I'd tend to go for the oldest drug first: I figure it's the one that they know the most about, and it has the longest track record. When I was first prescribed a biologic, I was taken aback that the rheumatologist (who happens to be a PsA researcher) gave me a choice between Enbrel and Humira. Apparently they do that so as not to appear to favour one drug company over another, given that there is big money involved when people go on these medications. I picked the older of the two (Enbrel). It failed after two years, and now I am on Humira and doing well once again.
Good luck, D-man! You're fortunate to have been given this choice.
I've been on both. Humira didn't help me at all in the 14 weeks I was on it but Simponi has been a game changer since the second week, particularly when my rheumy was able to switch me up to the higher dose last November to see if that gave me a further efficacy to improve my knees. It did and my PsA is now really pretty well controlled. For me the compromise is that it hasn't helped my skin disease but in the overall scheme of things I can live with that.
Good luck with whatever you choose. The important thing is that you've got the opportunity to go on a biologic.
Thanks Seenie and Jules G so its kinda the the same as the Dmards (sulfasalazine and methatraxate) i was on, that didn't really work. So on a toss of a coin i've went for Humira and getting my bloodtest nxt week to start the process off, wish me luck and thanks again...
Good luck!
Try to be patient - I’m on humira but although it definitely helps it was a slow starter for me! Initially just noticed I had more energy but no real improvement in psa - that took maybe 3 months… No symptoms from humira apart from fungal infections in my mouth.
Hope you get on well with it xx
Hi D-man! My doctors suggested Humira and Enbrel, and I opted for Enbrel, like Seenie, but my reason being because it's injected every week (I actually started with 2 injections per week)--to me, that meant it must be a weaker biologic and if I had SEs they'd be shorter lived. Enbrel worked almost immediately for me. It's been working for two years now, but I'd say I felt the best for the first 6 weeks or so on it. Then my back went out, and 8 months later my feet "went out". Enbrel is still working, but sometimes I think my sore feet (my back's been pretty good for awhile) cause me so much pain it affects how I feel in general, and I have to remind myself that is nowhere near how awful I felt prior to starting Enbrel and Enbrel is still doing its magic, as my rheumy would say.
Good luck! Like stated above, Humira and Enbrel are usually the first two choices and if there is a study showing the track record of both over time, they'd be running the race neck and neck.
A wee update, ive been on Humira and mtx (dose cut to 15mg per week). It has improved my spine and neck alot, There is some improvment on my foot and ankle. My rhuemy is keeping me on Humira as he reckons this will work more on ankle and feet. I should also point out That my CRP and ESR levels ahve dropped significantly while i have been on Humira as well. But most importantly its going in the right direction!!!