Medication Blues

Well after 18 years of RA and 2 years on Meth I is no longer working. I am gluten, soy,sugar and diary free and cleaning up my food alleries helped a lot. But I am in flare. My Rhemy suggested Humira and after weeks of stressing myself out I gave in. Now my insurance company will not honor my Humira discount card. Back to the drawing board. Has anyone tried any of the the other biolics. Simponi etc...Encouragment need..

I had problems with my insurance and the Humira card too. My insurance wanted me to go through their mail order pharmacy to save them $, but the mail order pharm wouldn't take the card. It took some arguing with the insurance company, but they finally allowed me to go to a local pharmacy instead. The local pharm takes the card and Humira only costs me $5/month.

I've been on Humira for about 6 weeks and I'm seeing a slow reduction of symptoms and pain. So far my bloodwork has been fine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will work; I've already tried sulfasalazine and Enbrel. The sulfa didn't work at all and Enbrel worked until I had to skip a week due to a sinus infection.

Good luck and have some gentle ((hugs)) if you want them.

I had some issues with the discount cards for Humira and another biologic as well and was finally able to convince the inusrance co to accept them so keep at it.

Im sorry to hear that MTX is not working any longer :( I went through that with Enbrel after 12 good years and it was a year and a half long drug out flare up as a result. I hope you find some relief soon.

I tried Humira and am now taking Orencia along with MTX weekly and it has helped a lot. Like I said, I was on Enbrel for 12 years and it worked really well for me. Don't give up and don't worry yourself too much over these meds. A life in excruciating pain is no fun. I had a hard time with the meds too because I was afraid they would kill me but without them I am in so much pain I am not living any kind of quality life and it isn't just me that suffers, its my family as well. God bless you and hang in there.

Yes! I have profound reactions to corn or corn syrup and I avoid it like the plague! :) One other thing that puts me into a serious flare is stress. I avoid it of course but at times I get myself into situations usually work related where the pressure just kills me. I flare up and suffer as a result but I have yet to find a way to ease those situations. Even after years of counseling and prayer.

I replied to your other thread but I will offer a few words here as well. I have had RA for 20 years and I have tried everything under the sun to find relief. I had many good years on Enbrel but once that ride was over my RA came back worse than ever and I was on so much prenizone and pain meds it was insane trying to get me out of flare while trying different RX to alleviate my symptoms. It was a heck of a hard and long year.

about the side effects... Your user name says it all in my opinion. I was hurting horribly and my quality of life was so bad I was suicidal and deeply depressed. In 99 I was offered Enbrel and at that time it was only out a few years and I had to sign a contract stating I wouldn't sue the RX or my Doctor if I got sick and died from it. I did it out of desperation in some sense. It worked really well for me but you know what pushed me over the edge was I thought and prayed about it really hard and I decided that I needed to trust God for it because I didn't know if I could keep going the was I was. I decided that regardless of the outcome I would accept it and move on hopefully better physically.

Ultimately these decisions are yours and none of us can know your situation as well as our own. It may be that many of the medications wont work for you but I sure hope not! I have made some pretty drastic diet changes over the years and I was able to get mild relief from some of them but they never seem to be enough that I am able to function well without help in the form of RX as well. Right now I am about to start acupuncture since I haven't tried it in the past.

I hope that you find relief and most of all peace.