I'm currently taking Enbrel. My Dr. wants to switch me to humaria. The Enbrel works for the arthritis just fine, but not so good for the skin. Has anybody done this and does it work?
Well Humira works very well for me. Darinfan has just posted a link to an article about a British news anchor who has PsA and is on Humira plus Methotrexate and he's very pleased with it too.
I've not switched though. I think that's always a daunting prospect when the drug you're currently taking works so well in some respects. I guess the questions are, how bad is your skin / how much do you trust your rheumy? And here's hoping you'll get some responses soon from people who have experience of switching, perhaps specifically from Enbrel to Humira, for similar reasons.
Humira didn't work for me at all and I switched to Simponi. This works very well on my arthritis and not so good (at all?) on my skin. It's a compromise that I can accept and I manage my skin with topical steroids, it is very much the lesser of two evils for me. As Sybil says I guess it depends on how bad your skin is.
Thanks,
My Dr. switched my to stelara for my skin in which it worked great, but did not work on my arthritis. So I had to go back to Enbrel. Just kinda nervous about switching again. I heard with humira, some people are more sick with colds when the are taking it. I was just wondering if that does happen, because I been on Enbrel for 8 years now and very seldom get sick.
As for humira and colds etc., you'll see a range of reports in past discussions, we all vary so it seems. But plenty of people on Humira do say that they seldom get sick. I've been on Humira for 2 years and had one mean old cold in that time, though if anything I fought it off rather quicker than other people around me did.
livinglife said:
Thanks,
My Dr. switched my to stelara for my skin in which it worked great, but did not work on my arthritis. So I had to go back to Enbrel. Just kinda nervous about switching again. I heard with humira, some people are more sick with colds when the are taking it. I was just wondering if that does happen, because I been on Enbrel for 8 years now and very seldom get sick.
Hi, livinglife,
I was on Enbrel for a couple of years. It was good for both my arthritis and my skin. Six months ago, I switched to Humira. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said I didn't think it was performing as well as Enbrel. But now I'm beginning to think my arthritis is as good as it was on Enbrel. For me it seems to have taken a long time to get traction. I have psoriasis skin patches, though, and I've never had those before. So you see, there is no predicting how a person is going to respond.
I haven't been any more sick on the biologics than I ever was, and I've never been one to get colds and things that "go around". I do get a flu shot every year.
It's all a crap shoot. You pays yer money and you takes yer chances. Only one way of finding out what's going to happen!
Best of luck to you!
Seenie said:
Hi, livinglife,
I was on Enbrel for a couple of years. It was good for both my arthritis and my skin. Six months ago, I switched to Humira. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said I didn't think it was performing as well as Enbrel. But now I'm beginning to think my arthritis is as good as it was on Enbrel. For me it seems to have taken a long time to get traction. I have psoriasis skin patches, though, and I've never had those before. So you see, there is no predicting how a person is going to respond.
I haven't been any more sick on the biologics than I ever was, and I've never been one to get colds and things that "go around". I do get a flu shot every year.
It's all a crap shoot. You pays yer money and you takes yer chances. Only one way of finding out what's going to happen!
Best of luck to you!
Thank You Seenie,
At first the Enbrel worked good on my skin. I just wanted something to help clear the skin up with also taking care of the arthritis. I do like the Enbrel on the arthritis part. It effects every one differently.
Humira worked very well for my psoriasis. I mostly have psoraisis in my nails and very rarely I have small patches on my legs. Humira cleared my nail psoraisis 95%. I will occasionally have one nail that will flare up with psoriasis, usually due to an injury to the nail. I have taken MTX and then Leflunimide which helped with the psoriasis but never to this degree.
I was on Humira for 5 months and I never developed on infection. I work in the lab and often come in contact with sick patients, as well as, swabs for testing for flu and strep. I was worried about getting sick but I can’t remember getting even a single cold.
Unfortunately, Humira did not help with my PsA at all. I was so excited when my new rheumy prescribed a biologic and so sad that it didn’t work for my PsA. I sincerely hope that it works for you. I’ve just had my first injection of Enbrel so I’m hopeful that this med will be “the one”!
Let us know how you respond to Humira. Good news from others PsA peeps gives all those in the gap hope!
Thank you aberry22
Being on Enbrel for about 9 years now. It will control my PsA, But my psoriasis, it controls it to a certain point at certain areas. At this time my psoriasis is getting worse. Stalera is the best med for psoriasis, but did not work for my PsA. I'm just kinda nervors about changing meds around again. I have not had any problems with Enbrel.
I think the only way of knowing is by trying it out. Enbrel was great for my joints and my skin. Then it failed. (Boy, are you lucky to have lasted nine years on one bio. Me, it was two.) I switched to Humira, and my joints are good, but I'm sprouting scales and flakes. Both helped with energy.
Crap shoot! And sometimes it's just plain crap. ;-)
Funny this came up. I did very well on Enbrel both Skin and Arthritis EXCEPT until I got inlammation into my eyes (uveitis) and had to switch to Humira. It does a great job on my eyes (not an incident since) and an amazing job on my skin when I take my MTX. If I'm late or skip because of life events I know immediately
My joints are fine, not perfect but fine. but I have been having some systemic inflammation. It started with my heart, added colcochine, nailed it, Been having other issues in other systems and higher blood pressure (despite a 50# weight los. Today was my three month check. A 20 minute appointment extended to an hour and half working a new plan. I love a doc who uses a chalk board (a big one) and flocharts. Well we eneded up staying with Humira as it covered the most issues the best (eyes are big one). Increased the MTX, stayed with the rest and added one new one. SSZ was a finalist, but i really didn't want two DMARDs
Anyway Humira is a wonderful med considered by many Rheumies the most potent of the Bios (next to remicade)
The new one? He added a phosphodiesterase inhibitor for the lung and kidney issues (high billirubin) I know its all ladies here but if any men are reading one of the common names for this drug is Viagra............. The good news is its NOT an off label (or the advertized use) use so my insurance covers it. So Guys eat your hearts out................
Every cloud has a silver-lining, tntlamb ;-)
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Seriously though the medication is called Revatio and works on inflammation when it gets into the organs. (Heart and lungs primarily). We'll be seeing more of it prescribed for PsA patients over time.
Has anyone tried the new biologic Cosentyx for PsA?
I have - there’s a long thread on it in here if you search for it. I had to go off recently because I’m in an unending battle with my foot, but it was honestly the best biologic I have tried (and I’ve done enbrel, Humira, and cimzia). Didn’t have hardly any side effects either (some nausea and lack of appetite which mostly resolved themselves a month or two in). I think it was pretty effective in terms of general small pains too, though it didn’t seem to keep my foot from swelling up like a marshmallow.
The other nice thing about it was that the dose could be doubled, which I ended up doing, if the lower dose didn’t seem to be as effective as needed. And I had no increase in symptoms.
Of course YMMV, but I think it’s generally not been too hard on people here from what I’ve read.
I’m on Otezla now, and seem to be tolerating it similarly well, so hopefully it’ll also help with my foot battle 
Feel free to ask me any questions about the Cosentyx though, I think I’m one of the ones here who’s had some significant time on it.