Re: RESEARCH - Response to Remicade or Enbrel as monotherapy compared with cothe

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

My Dr. wants me to try remicade infusion. I could not tolerate the

Methrotrexate after just a few months. My Ins co pay is too expensive

and I dont qualify for any assistance for Enbrel injections. Anyone

care to comment on side effects , etc while taking the remicade

infusion treatments?

Thank you all so much.

M

PS Anyone take any multi vitamin to help a bit with low energy?

--- In , " " <Matsumura_Clan@...>

wrote:

>

> Arthritis Rheum. 2006 Jun;54(6):1786-94.

>

>

> Comparison of the response to infliximab or etanercept monotherapy

with the

> response to cotherapy with methotrexate or another disease-modifying

> antirheumatic drug in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Results

from the

> British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register.

>

>

> Hyrich KL, Symmons DP, KD, Silman AJ.

>

> University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

>

> OBJECTIVE: To compare outcome at 6 months in unselected " real-world "

> patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with etanercept or

infliximab as

> either monotherapy, cotherapy with methotrexate (MTX), or cotherapy with

> another disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD). METHODS: A

total of

> 2,711 subjects starting treatment with their first biologic agent (1,453

> infliximab and 1,258 etanercept) were followed up for 6 months.

Outcome was

> assessed using the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response

> criteria. Ordinal regression was used to model the response in the

MTX and

> other DMARD cotherapy groups relative to the monotherapy group

separately

> for the 2 anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha agents, after adjusting for

> baseline differences. RESULTS: Etanercept-treated patients had an

increased

> likelihood of achieving a higher EULAR response category with

cotherapy with

> MTX (odds ratio [OR] 2.0, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.5-2.7)

and with

> another DMARD (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.9-1.6) as compared with monotherapy. For

> infliximab-treated patients, the likelihoods were 1.4 (95% CI

0.9-2.0) for

> MTX and 1.3 (95% CI 0.8-2.1) for other DMARDs versus monotherapy.

Cotherapy

> with MTX or another DMARD produced significantly higher rates of

remission

> with etanercept (12% and 11%, respectively) as compared with etanercept

> monotherapy (5%). Infliximab-treated patients showed similar

remission rates

> in the MTX and other DMARD cotherapy groups (8% and 5%,

respectively) as in

> the monotherapy group (7%).

>

> CONCLUSION: In this study of real-world patients, the use of MTX

and, to a

> lesser extent, other DMARDs as cotherapy with etanercept was

associated with

> a higher likelihood of response. Although the infliximab guidelines

suggest

> that MTX be used as cotherapy, in clinical practice, both

monotherapy and

> cotherapy with DMARDs other than MTX are used. These data suggest that

> either of the latter strategies may be useful in patients who are

intolerant

> to MTX.

>

> PMID: 16736520

>

>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

6736520

>

>

>

> Not an MD

>

> I'll tell you where to go!

>

> Mayo Clinic in Rochester

> http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

>

> s Hopkins Medicine

> http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Sue

Would you be specific about the brand of multi you take.

I'm looking at Centrum Silver but was alo trying to find something

with the prescription vitamin ingredients my Doc recommended. I

checked the health food store. The rheumy scrip vita pills are huge!

They seem to have all that you mentioned in them also something that

sounds like DDH ?

M

> >

> > PS Anyone take any multi vitamin to help a bit with low energy?

>

[Guest guest]

>

>

Thank you much appreciated!

M

I have been having Remicade infusions for a year and a half now and other

> than being tired the day of I have not experience any side effects.

I am

> glad I decided to go that route.

>

>

>

>

>

> Love and Peace,

>

> Semalee

>