Enbrel vs. Rituxan | Arthritis Information

I'm still debating whether to start Rituxan. Enbrel seems to be the lesser of two evils. I feel like we are all playing Russian Roulette with all these different meds for RA. Is there anything that will 100% stop the deformities of fingers/toes? Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.Wish I had an answer for you, but different biologics work for different people. My former RD told me that the rheumatologists in teaching hospitals are working on a way to test us to determine what strain of RA a patient has, and what course of meds will work on it, ahead of time, rather than the crap shoot we all have to go through now.

Please remember I'm no doctor - that said my understanding is that the insurance companies want us to try the TNF inhibitors first, and if they don't work move on to the infusion biologics. For what it's worth, I had many years of relief while on Enbrel and never had a side effect.

Thanks for that info. I couldn't agree with you more...the RA treatment options sure feel like a crap shoot. When I was first diagnosed I thought things had changed since my mother had RA years and years ago. It's obvious that some things are much better, but it sure feels like there's a lot of hit and miss options.

When I was first given MTX and Prednisone I felt so much better and thought that was going to be the end of the RA problems. Got off Prednisone and continued with MTX and then Plaquenil added and that combination worked. Again, I thought I was home free. Now here I go again having to try something else.

I'm leaning toward Enbrel instead of Rituxan now. It's not a warm, fuzzy feeling when the doctors let us make our own decisions sometimes. I didn't go to medical school so how the heck do I know which is my best option.

Sorry for the whining. It's just been one of those weeks.

whine away.

We've been where you are.

The decisions the decisions.. it's not easy.. I just read everything I could get my hands on.. but my options according to my RD were Humira or enbrel ...

and I hope you can find out the information you need to make the best decision for you.

It is so hard to choose. I would lean towards Enbrel only due to the fact that the nurses in hospital always comment on how Rituxan is so powerful(side effect/complication wise). That being said, I didn't have any reactions to either one...Good luck with your decision, Flamingo. Hey we can all whine here, it helps to keep us sane. Flamingo,

I was given the choice of orencia and another same type drug (not sure which one) after enbrel worked but, not well enough. My Rheumatologist told me to take couple of weeks to consider the choices. I went back in two weeks wishing that my Doctor had made the decision. When I talked to the Rheumatologist he surprised me by asking if I would consider rituxan. He said that he preferred rituxan for me. I asked him about rituxan and he pulled it up on the computer. I asked about safety and he said that he believed ritixan to be safer. Well, I took the Doctors advise. He said that if i decided against it that just to let him know prior to the infusions approx 3 weeks later. The only side effects are sinusitus after the infusions, that clears up on it's own. I like that I get the infusions every six months and most importantly, I have gotten off prednisone and methotrexate after doing 25mgs mtx and 20-25 mgs of prednisne per day for three years. None the less, that's just my individual story but a true one, but it's just mine. Good luck with whatever you choose.

LEV