Re: DMARDs/biologics

[Guest guest]

Actually the DMARDs are much more toxic to the body than the biologics.  My docs

would rather have me on biologics and they avoid the DMARDs because of their

known toxicity.  I have close to a normal life on biologics and it's well worth

it to me.  The alternative would be to be an invalid in pain all the time. 

Joan

[Guest guest]

Of course the doctors would rather have you on biologics because they make such

a huge cut from the them. It means 2 or 3 summer houses for them instead of one.

Have you talked to the thousands of people who disagree because they have

developed M.S, cancer, heart failure from the biologics? There's even tons of

people who can't tell you because they are dead and their families are now their

spokesperson. I took them too and life was great for a few months, then with

both biologics the effectiveness wore off and I felt worse with even more

problems. I also found it very interesting that I have to pay out the wazoo for

my other meds but I had a company willing to pay over $4000 a month for me to

take their drug. If it's too good to be true, it usually is. Yes, I am in pain

and miserable, but so was I on the biologics. The only difference now is I don't

have to live in fear of more awful side effects of the meds eventhough I am

still living with some they they caused. How can something be so amazing that

suppresses your entire immune system? I don't like my current status but I sure

couldn't live with what the biologics were doing to me. God bless.

[Guest guest]

Joan,

That is a pretty broad statement you make. While some of them are quite nasty,

the biologics are no saints either. We may not know the effect of some of

these drugs for a few generations..

Here is a RA article on the different DMARDS which may be quite useful. I

went from shutting down back to 80% normality ( work full time, still very

active) on basically sulfazine and anti-inflamitories.

The morale is each of us react differently to each of these courses of treatment

both positively and negatively.

[Guest guest]

I agree, you can't make broad sweeping statements about anyting when it comes to

these treatments.  We are all just trying to do the best we can given our own

individual situations.  I hope I didn't sound overconfident or like I was

pressuring anyone.  It's just that I hear so many people saying they're afraid

of the biologics because they haven't been around that long.  My point is I

wouldn't make a decision on a course of treatment based on that factor alone. 

Biologics are being used more and more often to treat new illnesses all the time

that were previously treatment resistant, extremely disabling and had poor

prognoses.  But, I agree they are not harmless nor are they a pancea for

everyone.  10 years ago before I had a definative diagnosis I refused to take

anything for my symptoms because I wasn't willing to take a chance on the side

effects.  I decided to live with the pain and use diet, exercise,

meditation....anything I could to improve my health.  All of these approaches

helped but I still had pain and fatigue.  Then when I was finally diagnosed 8

years ago, the pain came on with a vengeance.  I couldn't function at all.  At

that point I could see that it was worth taking a calculated risk with the

biologics in order to have a major improvement in my health.  It just wasn't

worth living for me if I was that ill and I was only 44 with young kids and a

career.  My rheumy started me on MTX which did nothing and then Humira which

pooped out after 6 months and then Remicade which left me virtually symptom free

for 7 years.  Now I'm switching to Enbrel because I've developed PsA.  Hope this

will give me the relief I enjoyed for so long on the Remicade.  My aunt was

diagnosed with RA 2 years ago and put on Metrotrexate and she ended up very sick

and in the hospital for the better part of a year.  Now she's on Enbrel and

doing great. 

I just want to encourage people to consider the biologics and not be so afraid

of them or be turned off by stories they hear.  One person may react badly or

not at all and another has a terrific response.  So, in some situations it's

really worth a try.

Thanks,

Joan

[Guest guest]

I completely understand, we are all different. I am just one of those people who

have tried biologics and had very bad experiences with them. I think they just

cover up the problem and then create more. That is just my experience. God

bless.

[Guest guest]

Biologics are just like every other rung in the ladder of pain relief from

arthritis. It's usually just a matter of time before you reach that point. When

the pain becomes unbearable and your quality of life hits bottom, the vast

majority of people will do anything to make it stop. To anyone that is

hesitating to try a biologic, don't be scared by the negative experience of one

of two people. You deserve a chance at recovery and the experience of most is

positive.

In my case, I'd reached a level where I was taking medications to alleviate the

side effects of the other meds. This went on for 4-5 years and then I retired.

I'm now down to two medications for my PA - Humira and Ultram (Tramadol). The

last to go was the methotrexate which was bumping up my liver enzymes. I

couldn't tell the difference after I'd stopped, so I tend to believe the MTX was

never doing me any good and was in fact, hurting me (liver.) My psoriasis has

remained the same using Clobetasol.

Good luck to all, Jim