Enbrel vs. MTX - which is easier? | Arthritis Information

Seems MTX has lots of side effects. Just look at all the posts about it on this board. Yet, there are few posts about side effects with enbrel. Am I correct?

this is one of those questions that you have to experiment on your own really. Depending on your age and anxiety, enbrel with methotrexate is recommended and the best.

I personally, got off of enbrel in favor of methotrexate and prednisone becuase enbrel wasnt working that well and my lymph count was really had. I also recently had a friend pass from leukymia. I am a relatively nervous person

I agree....you'll have to try them and se for yourself. Enbrel might not be strong enough alone. It's recommended that you use MTX in conjunction with it; but if you get good results without MTX I'd say to that.

I honestly think MTX is harder on me than Humira; but Humira along isn't enough....at leat I don't think. Honestly I haven't had the opprotunity to try that. Maybe one day things will be good enough for me to try that.

That's my hope anyway.

Good Luck!

For me, MTX alone did nothing, and Enbrel alone did nothing..same with Humira or Remicade. I need to take the MTX/Biologic combo if I want ANY results.

There are side effects to anything. The side effects to uncontrolled RA are far worse to me than the side effects to the meds. I figure they list every opossible eventuality, because they have to. I am amazed they don't consider car crashes a side effect, since they certainly happen when people might be on medication.

I think the previous posts are correct. The benchmark treatment for RA right now is MTX with a biologic. You have to see what works for you! FYI the MTX was harder on me than the Enbril.

Good Luck!

To me, methotrexate is the safer drug although it may have more minor side effects. It can cause hair loss, fatigue, mouth sores, nausea, among other things but it has been out longer and more is known about it.

The only side effect I have with Enbrel is some pretty good size injection site reactions. My fear, however is that it is still a relatively new drug and I feel like a sitting duck waiting for more info to come out on it. The possible MS, lupus, lymphoma risks are pretty serious and make me long for the pill-popping days of methotrexate. Unfortunately methotrexate has become ineffective for me.

On the plus side, since on Enbrel, I have been able to go off everything else. It really does work well for me. Hoepfully it will continue to do so.So far I have to say Enbrel because I was on MXT... but I have only been on Enbrel for a few days. I am scared of all the side effects of Enbrel but didn't tolerate MXt as well.. I was afraid to try everything but I have to plow through it to get the stupid thing under control and have the best quality of life I can get with my family. I hope you have luck with your choice of meds. It seems everyone is different too, say maybe give them a try. You can always switch.

Donna

I have refused mtx until now. I am on placquenil and prednisone, tried the alsufladine and imuran-both made me ill. Tried the enbrel and that wasn't strong enough. I started humira about 6-7 weeks ago and it still wasn't enough even though I was doing the injections weekly. This past Friday, I added in the mtx injection. I went right to the injection because I have a lot of gi upset anyway and didn't want to chance anymore gi upset.

I felt a bit sick Friday night after the shot but am doing ok now.. I guess only time will tell if the mtx, humira is the right combo for me. I'll continue the placquenil as well but am trying to wean off the prednisone, I'm down to 11mg right now.