Thoughts on Cimzia

Hello,

I just started taking Cimzia (after Remicaide for 4 years and Humira for 1 year have failed).  I just took my 2nd dose and so far have experienced side effects such as intense migraines & hives but no Crohn's relief which I don't expect to see for another month or so.

Has anyone had Cimzia work well for them after they tried Remicaide and Humira? If this doesn't work, my next step is surgery :(

Thanks!!

I've been on it for 2+ years and I have no issues...
My crohn's isn't well controlled anyway, but Cimzia (and biologics in general) make it more manageable and less painful, but then again, I am somewhat atypical in presentation...

Remicade put me into remission for 2 years when I lost it. :-( I failed Humira mostly because I tried it *right* after it was approved and really needed shots every week. When my insurance didn't approve that, I tried Tysabri (this was before Cimzia was approved). I was too anxious on Tysabri, so I have switched to Cimzia. I can't say it puts me anywhere near remission, but I do think it's helping to some degree. Like my doc says, maybe it's keeping me out of the hospital.

Oh yeah, my doc added mtx about 6 months ago, because Cimzia alone wasn't helping enough. Tomorrow I have a scope to see what's up in there, and to determine whether I continue the mtx. I will stay on the Cimzia though. Even if it's only helping a little, it's better than nothing! My next step is an ostomy (either temp or permanent, I'd probably try the temp).

Good luck with it!

I took Cimzia for a year on a clinical trial and it was the best year I'd had in quite a while.  When the trial was up, I decided to switch to Humira, just because I was still having some arthritis problems.  Cimzia kept my Crohn's in remission.  I tried Humira for about a year and switched back to Cimzia because of worsening arthritis problems.  Moving twice in a month and fixing up a foreclosure has put me in a worse arthritis flare and started causing stomach and Crohn's problems as well, so now I'm switching back to Humira, just because I'm out of options.  So, Cimzia works about as well for me as anything else (except Mtx, but I can't take that due to elevated liver enzymes).  And, it's less painful than Humira!  I will say, though, that it wears off before the 4 weeks is up for me, so we tried doing just one shot every 2 weeks and that's not any better.  I got the full 400 mg every 2 weeks on the clinical trial and it worked so much better then.  

I was also wondering if your prednisone might be causing some of the headaches, especially if are tapering down...I know it did for me...Your signature states that you are on 30mg, and I also know that I also had issues with low potassium while on prednisone...I was on the steroids for over 3 years...the Cimzia allowed me to get off it...but it DID take awhile, with some setbacks...
Good Luck