Remicade, Humira, or Simponi? Success stories?

Hi all -
I have been lurking and reading up but have not posted in a while.

My gut has not been acting badly; I went into a mini-flare post-Christmas which I've been treating with steroid enemas. (The 5 ASA rectals just don't help me.)
My GI has been concerned about microscopic inflammation and he wanted me to go on a biologic.

So... I have gotten my head around it, I will try one. Remi, Humira, Simponi all come in at about the same cost with my insurance.

Which has worked well for folks?

songlady,

I am on Remicade and methotrexate. The methotrexate is prescribed so that I will not build up antibodies to the Remicade. I have not been on the other two you listed. Remicade saved my life. I was having 20 to 30 bloody bms daily. I had sepsis, fistulas, uncontrollable vomiting, pain, fevers and lethargy. I did develop an obstruction and now have a colostomy.... however the Remicade healed the majority of my colon and we may reverse the colostomy after my fistula surgery and healing has occurred. I am still taking Remicade (it will be 2 years in June or July...) and it is still helping me.

I wish you the very best,

Clo

I've been on remicade since 2009 with great results and no side effects. In summer/fall 2014 I was on humira only because of IV access issues. I had some significant side effects from humira and signs of eminent flare so resumed remicade. For me, I wish I had never agreed to switch drugs. With that said I know many patients do well with humira so don't exclude it. Everyone responds differently. When I switched, I wanted simponi but my insurance required that I fail humira first. I'm an advanced practice nurse and one of the GI docs I work with sometimes told me simponi is similar to remicade. When I researched the drugs before the switch, I found that simponi was designed for UC and humira for crohn's even though now it's been approved for UC.

I just started Humira about 7 weeks ago and I think it's working! This is my first biologic and it is much easier than I anticipated. I like the fact that I don't have to go for an infusion and the whole process including getting things ready, injecting, clean up takes less than a minute. Good luck in whichever you choose! Hope it puts you in remission.

I really appreciate all the input!
I have had minimal symptoms for decades (last hospitalization 30 years ago) but my current GI is concerned about the microscopic inflammation from pathology results.
When I feel some symptoms, from time to time, I start steroid enemas, which take care of any discomfort but obviously are not optimal since they are steroid.

I talked to the GI this evening and think we will try Simponi. If I had urgent symptoms, he would recommend Remi, but since I don't, he thought one of the other options (humira, Simponi) would be fine to try for starters.
A self-injection will work better into my life, also.... if it works. (Remi, Humira and Simponi were all about the same cost with my insurance.) His office is checking out the patient assistance program for Simponi, he and I will talk early next week, and I will post about my experiences!

Thanks again!

songlady, I'm quite suprised your GI wants you on a biologic based on 'microscopic inflammation.' Normally the biologics are reserved for those with obvious-on-a-scope macroscopic inflammation, ie, visible ulcerations, erythema, edema, bleeding, etc.

It will be interesting to see whether your insurance approves a biologic given your scope findings, or lack thereof.

When was your last scope, and was microscopic inflammation in biopsies the only thing seen? Or were there more findings?


Have you ever been on imuran, 6mp, or methotrexate?

Thanks for the additional info. It appears you're kinda in a grey area of whether or not stepping up to biologics is appropriate. It will be interesting to see whether insurance approves or wants more information or rejects entirely. They generally want to see some combination of bad symptoms and/or bad scope results in order to approve.