Gelita,
You are so right! God gave you and me and all of us another day! It is very easy to get discouraged with this disease. But for those with faith, we have hope and we know this painful life is temporary and a mere “blip” in time. I am looking forward to the time of “no more pain and no more tears”! For now, count your blessings! We have the internet for information, we have access to doctors, medications, etc. Life on earth could be worse, could it not?
MimiB,
When I was first diagnosed, I cycled through biologics with about 12 weeks each to assess efficacy. I tried Enbrel, Humira, & Remicade, as my rheumatologist advised. None of these options seemed to work well, but I noticed the best improvement with Humira. So I went with Humira. The frequency of doses was increased. I now take Humira weekly as opposed to every other week and was able to achieve more of an improvement.
At that time there was a study on the efficacy of tnf inhibitors in patients with PsA. It broke down percentages as 70% of patients responding to the first biologic, 20% responded to the 2nd, with 10% having to keep shopping around as it were.
It is hard to draw individual conclusions from such numbers. I simply took it as a positive indication that the majority of patients see improvement & that it may require some time to find what works best for me. From what you have described you are in a period of finding what works best. Dont be discouraged, you will find something that gets you to a better place and new options continue to emerge. I wish you the best.
Thank you all for your replies. I am hoping we all find some relief soon ! I did conclude that the 2.5 mg of prednisone is not gong to work for me right now, so I am back up to 5. I had pain in part that I didn't even know I had by the third day. Baby steps, ya'll ! Baby steps.