choice

IF an infusion was offered for ra injectable enbrel, cimza or humira, which would you chose and why? I Value advice and opinions on this one.

Thanks particularly concerned about side effects and effectiveness, I have discounted infusion at this stage as it will interfer with trying to work

Thank you in anticipation

Alison x

[Hidden]

Hi summer,

Now I don't wish to appear dumb witted, but are you asking that if Embrel (I inject this one), was given to me by attending the hospital and having a tube put in my arm instead of me injecting it, I am not sure of the term infusion.

For me that would not be ideal as I attended one of those clinics to see the rhumey nurse when I required a steriod injection sharpish, it was the only way to get one. I saw where they were and they were too far away from a toilet for me, and the person I was talking to said they were generally there a couple of hours or longer. I have IBS and this would be a priority for me. So I would prefer to keep with the injections.

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I Have discounted infusions unless any one says they are a miracle!! im favouring enbrel from my own research but i need info / input ftom you guys x

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I have been injecting Embrel for a year now and I have had no problems with it in regards to side effects. I inject this along with taking Leflunomide each day. I have had to come off Embrell for 2.5 weeks at the beginning of this year due to chest infection and flu, (yes I did have the flu jab in Oct), and my PsA came back.

My feelings are that it is working for me all the time I am ok and don't have any other illness, but once you have to come off it for a short time then it quickly disappears from your body. So make sure you have a Dmard alongside it. xx

[petalnumber2]

Hello summer, I take it that you are in the same situation as me at this time, having to think about going forward with a different treatment.

I've been given 4 different Anti-tnf treatments to read about by my clinical nurse. 2 are self inject and 2 infusion and I am leaning toward self inject simply because it would be less disruptive to my daily life. But, out of the 4 I would really like to try tocilizumab because the discription says it works on the protein IL6 which is overproduced in the body causing tiredness and anaemia among other things, which is something I have a lot of problems with. Unfortunately it is given by infusion.

Adalimumab/Humira is also one of the 4 offered to me and is the one I think I'm more likely to choose eventually, (with input by clinical nurse of course), because it is self inject (which I have no worries about) and I would be more in control, which is important to me also.

Like you, I'm not entirely comfortable about the side effects of any of these treatments, and yes I wonder about the effectiveness too. But then MTX is not working for me and I've tried three other DMARDS alongside MTX which I've had bad reactions to.

At the end of the day I'm having a really miserable time with my hands and feet/ankles particularly, and any relief would be greatly received, so probably self inject humira is my best choice as long as I get through the criterior of course!!

Thank you for posing this question. I don't know if I have helped you by writing about my own thoughts on this subject, but it has certainly helped me to see everything a bit more clearly.

June x

[Hidden in reply to petalnumber2]

i decided infusion too disruptive but it is interesting what you say about toczilunab, I am chosing enbrel because well its a 50/50 but over enbrel/ humira but humira can cause drug induced lupus and as I HAVE some drug allergies THIS has lead to my choice of enbrel x

[_andy_]

hi summer .. i am some what different ,, not having RA but AS ,, but i started enbrel in january ,, after having raised inflamatory markers for severel years ,, esr crp always around 60 / 70 .. enbrel knocked this down to normal levels ,, within a week .. so whatever this miracle drug does ,, blocking something out in the immune system ... it sure worked fast on me ..

which ever you go for ... good luck ,,, i hope it works well ,, like its done for me .. good luck ..x

[sciqueen]

Hi

I too did not understand the question initially, but I was to was given a choice of guinea & enbrel. Consultant thought I would do better on wkly dosing ad my main problem with cimzia is that I get a high dose initially, but it does not last for the 2 wks (falls far short of this),

I went with her recommendation which was enbrel. Plus there is a lot of research on enbrel both patients review & medical.

Now due to start it next month

Joanne x

[sciqueen]

Sorry humira not guinea

It's the predictive text on the tablet - I hate!

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we are ginea pigs resally had visions of trying to stuff a a guinea pig in your arm, but in drugs trials it pissible to be a human guinea pig xx