Tocilizumab

It brought down my inflammation markers dramatically and began to make a difference except I only had 2 infusions before thy discovered I had RA related pulmonary fibrosis so was changed to another infusion , rituximab,  which has in fact worked brilliantly.

if you were on an anti tnf before this works by targeting a different part of the cell and seems to work well for people.

No sorry not heard of that one

I started it in October as Etanercept had stopped working. I am injecting myself once a week along with Methotrexate 25mg injection and Hydroxychloroquine tabs every day. My CRP has dropped dramatically since I started it. I am still in pain from the damage already done to my joints but my RA activity is certainly under control. I hope it works for you.

Best wishes, Elspeth

Actemra is a biologic You may either yake it as an infusion or as an injectable.

Perhaps this will help ypu understand the overview of RA drugs...

Rheumatoid is a dynamic disease that morphs....this is why a medication that helps today may not help tomorrow.

By observing a person's reaction to a drug, we can learn a lot about the rheumatoid in that person's body...Both Enbrel and Humira are TNF, tumor necrosis factor. Individuals whose rheumatoid responds well to either Enbrel or Humira are said to have TNF driven rheumatoid. Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody against the protein CD20. For those who respond favorably to Rituximab, we say their rheumatoid is CD20 driven.

Sometimes rheumatoid arthritis can be successfully treated with an NSAID...non steriodal anti inflammatory drug...such as Orudis, Feldene, Naprosin, Naproxin, Motrin, Indomethacin, Butazolidin to name just a few.

Steriods...not to be confused with anabolic steroids...prednisone, budesonide, methylprednisolone are three of many steroids. Many decades of study have taught us to use steroids judiciously because steroids cause unwanted side effects such as bone density loss. Today, steroids are prescribed using a burst approach...high dose fast start, immediate graduated decrease, off.

DMARDs & Biologics... disease modifying anti rheumatic drug...

This class of medications modify, literally change the way rheumatoid behaves... Methotrexate (now the gold standard), hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine, Orencia, Remicade are all typically oral.

Rituximab is delivered by infusion.

Enbrel in the mid nineties was the first DMARD. I still remember watching the television news that night with tears running down my face. Those of you who face rheumatoid today should never face the full fury of this disease. Nevertheless, matching a sufferer with the best medication to defeat their rheumatoid continues to take time. As the class of medication used increases, so too do the possible adverse side effects. Be patient and work with your rheumatologist, only a board certified rheumatologist, to fine tune a treatment effective against your rheumatoid.

54 years of severe juvenile rheumatoid has left my body permanently damaged and deformed because medicine did not have the wealth of knowledge it has today.

I am grateful for all of the analgesics, NSAIDs, and steroids that made it possible for DMARDs & biologics to modify even my severe juvenile rheumatoid. Today my JRA relatively quiet. And once my rheumatoid quieted down, I forgot about the really tough times it raged.

hugs

I take my fourth weekly jab today.   My inflamation levels have droppeddraatically:   CRP down from 110 to 1.8 and ESR down to 8; unfortunately it hasn't helped qith the pain, Doc says that may come but he feels the pain ay remain due to damage and I made need surgical intervention.   I'd be reluctant to take this course as I had an arthroscopy on my right elbow a couple of years ago for osteo (pre RA) from which I developed an infection and very shortly afterwards was diagnosed with RA.   Never regained full movement and it never helped with the pain.   There are many biologics and you simply have to try until you find something that works.   I don't suffer any side effects from actemra, so I guess that's one positive.