Flex Sig complete... feeling overwhelmed

Your insurance, unfortunately, will most likely have a big say in your medication choice. I’ve never been on the 6mp class as blood tests showed I would be a non metabolized so I went straight to entyvio. I’m very happy on it — slow acting but most biologics are. I was in symptomatic remission by around month 4 although I saw great improvements before then along the way. It doesn’t affect the immune system as strong as some of the others — for instance I showed a strong antibody response to the covid vaccine while some of those on remicade had a lower response of antibodies. And the infusion time is much shorter than remicade — only 30 minutes every 8 weeks. It is very expensive but I believe there is a copay program.

I hate that cost affordability has to be a part on our medication decisions but there it is so I would definitely start checking into that.

There’s been a lot posted on humira here lately. There’s a big convenience in self injecting at home.

Let us know what you decide.

6mp is the easiest to take since it's a pill. It takes 2-3 months to work after you get to a therapeutic dose (confirmed by blood test). You will need to have frequent blood tests when you start to make sure it doesn't affect your liver

Enyvio is theoretically the safest biologic since it was developed specifically for the colon. It can also take a few months to work. I loved this when I was on it. It's an IV infusion you will need to get at an infusion center every 8 weeks.

Humira is self injections. Easy to do in your own home. I think it works better for Crohns than UC, but there are several people on this forum who use it.

Remicade is probably the fastest acting for most people. It's also an infusion that you need to get at an infusion center. There are a lot of variables for dosing too. I started to see it working pretty quickly (during the loading doses), but I continued to have lingering low grade symptoms so we kept adjusting the dose and frequency. Seems good now (fingers crossed).

Lots of options. You will need to decide which can work best for your lifestyle and how bad your symptoms are. I think if you are in a really bad flare, Remicade would likely be the best bet. If not so bad the others are contenders.

Try not to stress about this (easier said than done). Many of us have had to go to stronger drugs and are doing well.

Remicade is the most effective. Entyvio is the safest but takes months to work (if it works...did nothing for me).

I always had bad flare ups until I went on remicade. I was only put on remicade after a severe reaction while on dipentum and purenthol. I stayed on remicade until I went on medicare. It gave me back my life. When I went on medicade, my out of pocket skyrocketed on remicade and my doc switched me to Humira. I love Humira. I’m about as normal as one can be with uc.

I take colazal and imuran now. I was going to go straight to humira but my insurance required me to fail imuran first. It took a good 3 months to work but I have been great since mid 2019, started imuran in January of 2019.

Hoping you have a good and quick response!! Keep us updated!