DMARDs for Arthritis Q & A

Varied doses of methotrexate, plus hydroxychloroquine, which I stopped taking because it made me dizzy, have not completely worked. My doctor is now considering putting me on Enbrel or Humira (depending on which the insurance will pay for), as well as continuing the methotrexate. Can Enbrel or Humira work without the methotrexate? The methotrexate makes me very tired and I get sick when I am out in the sun for more than a few minutes. My doctor says I need to deal with those and some other minor side effects, but I would like to stop taking the methotrexate altogether. Can either of those injectable drugs work on their own?

I recently moved to Israel, and am having difficulty in getting my Enbrel prescription continued here. They just recently approved Enbrel for Psoriatic arthritis, but they want me to try Remicade first. I explained that I had been on Enbrel effectively for two years now. No luck. Can you do a comparison of the two? Thanks!

I was diagnosed with RA last year. I took Enbrel for about 4 months and experienced a significant reduction in RA symptoms. My rheumatologist suggested that I take Methotrexate with the Enbrel. I decided against that option due to the potential side effects of Methotrexate. As an alternative, my rheumatologist started me on Humira by itself. I’ve taken Humira for about 3 months. I find that the Humira is not as effective as the Enbrel. My rheumatologist indicated that some patients experiece further symptom relief if they increase their Humira dosage from 40 mg every two weeks to 40 mg every week. Does the medical literature indicate that some patients experience a significant decrease in RA symptoms when they increase their Humira dosage from 40 mg every two weeks to 40 mg every week? Would increasing the Humira dosage to once per week significantly increase the possibility of side effects?

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. I was wondering what is the normal drug treatments for RA. Should they be tried in any order. Like starting with NSAID then Steroids then drugs like MTX? So far I am on NSAID and Prednisone with no relief.

My rheumathologist, has told me that he will be using Embrel to treat my scleroderma/ mixed connective tissue illness. What is your advise on this? I am on metotrexate and plaquenil, but I have noticed that I am deteriorating very fast…finger, hand wrist, arms, knee pain is so bad, so bad, it feels that I will brake bones at any moment, a weeks ago I was not able to close myy rt. hand, the bone and tendons in my wrist were frozen and the pain was horrible, he injected me to reduce the swelling.

I have been taking methotreate (10 mg a week) for 13 years for psoriatic arthritis. I have developed very servere nerve pain in my feet and ankles. The EMG and nerve conduction studies were negative. A pain specialist mentioned that it was possibly a result of the methotreate. I have not heard that this could be a side effect. Do you have any information on this?