Complications with meds

Hello. I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis when I was just 13 years old. I am now 30. I have been on Methotrexate for the past 15 years and it has stopped working. So last March my Rheumatologist started me on Remicade and it was a miracle drug at first. But after 6 months it stopped working as well and wore off before my next scheduled infusion. Then, the week before Thanksgiving, I got very sick, very fast. I woke up that morning feeling fine, that night I was in the hospital. I had pneumonia and sepsis. I was very sick and spent 5 days in the hospital. So my dr. took me off the Remicade and wants to try me on Enbrel. My fear is that Remicade, Enbrel, and Humira are all the same class of drugs and all have the same side effects. I am very scared of getting so sick again with Enbrel. Sepsis kills people. So, my question is, have any of you tried more than one of these drugs and had side effects with one drug and then done fine on another? Any feedback would be much appreciated.

gnatty, All that I can tell you is what I was told when I faced the choice of Remicade, Humira or Enbrel. SInce I have Crohn's and SpA, I could really have opted for any of them, but I was told that the reason Enbrel is not used to treat Crohn's is because it is not as strong as Remicade or Humira. Since I was reluctant to start the biologics to begin with, I felt Enbrel was the better choice. The fact that my Crohn's was well controlled helped too.

Now, I need to bump up to Humira because the Corhn's is not under control anymore, but having had Enbrel for 14 months with only one sinus infection, I'm not as worried. Perhaps the fact that it's almost 3 years later and I'm in even more pain makes the decision easier now.

I hope that you find the best med option for you and don't have to worry much about complications. Good luck.

I have AS & RA. I started on Enbrel, we then added MTX down the road when the Enbrel started to lose its effectiveness after I had one really bad dental infection. Switched to Remicade when I was diagnosed with Crohn's last year, still taking the MTX. Could be you reacted to the murine protein rather than the tnf inhibitor properties - lots of people do. Humira is human protein, can't remember the protein in Enbrel. I'd consider the Humira, then the Enbrel if you have the choice. Anything is better than nothing, but getting as sick as you were is something that would need to be monitored --- closely. Good luck.