Hi Everyone,
My doctor is ready to put my on a biological. She is thinking Enbrel, but said she doesn't really have a preference. I wanted to know if anyone has suggestions as to which one to start off on. I don't mind the idea of IV, so that isn't a negative.
Also, if there is a resource of an appropriate place to get feedback on the drugs, I would be interested in that as well.
Take care,
Nori
Both of the drugs do the same thing just use different ingredients to get the job done. Both can take up to 3 months before you notice any effects. I was on Humira and it worked very well for me for about 18 months. Don't judge by me that it will only work that long for you. There are people here that have been on humira long term that have had great success with it.
Do research on both meds. What does your insurance pay for either med? Which one fitsin with your lifestyle better?
It depends on what you are looking for that might help you decide.
Remicade is made from chemicals, enbrel is made from mice and humira is made from humans.
humira and enbrel are self injected with needles. Humira can come in a self injecting needle for those who have trouble, not sure if enbrel does yet and remicade is injected by IV at a hospital or dr. office it takes a few hours to do the whole thing for remicade.
There are reactions for all and they are close to the same price. I believe after a while Humira becomes once a month or something like that, not weekly (some are close to weekly depending on agressive of RA).
It's a big decision, if you don't mind where it comes from or how you use it, then there really isn't a difference for each. They are very close in side effects, so it would be a personal decision.
My doctor likes humira cuz it comes from humans.
Bubbagump,
Just curious as I'm one injecting myself with Enbrel.. Where did you find information saying Enbrel was made from mice? Johns Hopkins says it's entirely human.
I have been on all three and had side effects from enbrel and remicade that caused me to stop taking them. That doesnt mean that you will have trouble, I tend to be sensitive to...well...everything. I have been on Humira since June and it took me from not being able to work to working full time and taking Karate lessons. I still have minor flares, usually localized to one pair of joints at a time, which is an improvement compared to full body pain almost all of the time. Each person is different in what is going to work for them..but let me just give you some pros to using humira vs enbrel and remicade..
Humira comes in a self injecting pen that is so convienient to use. I am a nurse and have given countless injections...but even I was impressed with the ease of use with the pen.
You only typically inject once every 2 weeks. In less than 15 seconds you are done for 14 days!
The remicade infusions are not bad...but still, if you can choose between minutes or hours why spend half a day driving, parking, walking, sitting for 3-4 hrs, and then going back home?
I really am happy with humira, I am using it alone without MTX and still having great success. Hope this helps.
Thank you for your replies. To answer one question, I don't have any insurance right now, so I would need to be approved for a patient assistance program. I called Enbrel last night and they are sending me an application.
I got my chest X-ray and TB test started yesterday, so I am waiting for the results.
The link kweeb listed is fantastic with lots of other questions answered in layman's terms!
Take care,
Nori
On the link kweenb provided one of the answers stated Remicade has 'a portion of a mouse protein'.
I personally don't care as long as it works!
Take care,
Nori
Remicade is mice (lord, they even put it in the name almost, what balls...); Enbrel is made in the ovaries of Chinese hamsters: Humira is all human (hence, the name; you could literally, literally see a light bulb go off over my head when the ped rheum gave me the breakdown).
None of that matters if it works for you.
nori king,
I take enbrel and it works well. One thing that enbrel does that the others don't is take away alot of the fatigue and depression. I switched to humira at one time was spending all of my time back in bed sleeping, no energy. Humira didn't work as well as enbrel and so I switched back to enbrel. Good luck no matter what the road you choose.
LEV