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Nikki1971

Morning, I just wanted to say hello. I was diagnosed with RA 3 years ago and would like to speak to people who have got it to find out some answers to some questions I have. My meditation is methotrexate ( injection) Hydroxychloriquine daily and I’ve just been prescribed Amgevita ( injection). Does anyone else take these together and do you find they help?

Many Thanks

Nikki

Shirley23

Hello @Nikki1971 and welcome to the Community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that will be your experience.

I understand that you have been living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for 3 years and you are keen to speak to others who have the same condition to ask questions and share experiences. It can be an anxious time when you have just been prescribed new medication as well as the usual daily challenges of living with your condition.

If you would like to have more replies to your post, you are welcome to repost on our Living with Arthritis forum which is a supportive space where you can ask questions and share experiences with others facing similar challenges. This could be sharing about DMARD medications and living with RA.

https://community.versusarthritis.org/categories/living-with-arthritis-forum

I hope the information given below will be of some help. 

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/

Please keep posting and let us know how we can help you.

Best wishes,

Shirley23 (moderator)

jamieA

Hi @Nikki1971

I have PsA and take a combination of sulfasalazine, methotrexate tablets and Amgevita so I don't know if my answer will be helpful to you.

I started off with sulfasalazine in October 2020, then MTX was added in February 2021 and then Amgevita was added in July 2021. For me - and I know everyone is different - the addition of Amgevita made a significant change for the good as neither sulfasalazine nor combined with MTX had worked. In February this year I asked my rheumatologist if I could reduce my pill intake and she agreed to reduce the sulfasalazine from 3gms to 2gms a day. I subsequently had a bad flare and have increased it back to 3gms again and I'm stable. My rheumatologist said the combination of the 3 drugs work in conjunction and give a better response than each individually. As she put it 1+1+1>3. I think the term is synergistic.

I hope your combination works for you as mine has for me.

Nikki1971

Thank you so much for replying. I started out on Hydroxychloriquine 400mg daily, then started having lots of flares so had methotrexate added tablet form but, it made me so sick and unwell, so they then changed it to injection which helped, I still continued to have flares so in July this year they introduced Amgevita I’ve only had two injections but, I feel it had helped a bit I’m not quite so stiff in the mornings. They said it would take 6 weeks to make a difference but, I feel it is working. ( unless it’s me just willing it to work) I have also had a lot of steroids which are marvellous but, it worries me taking them so much. Thank you I do feel a bit more reassured that I could on the right road now.

Nikki

jamieA

Hi @Nikki1971

When I started Amgevita in late July 2021 a week after my second injection I could feel an improvement. At the time of starting Amgevita I was walking with 2 elbow crutches, I couldn't close my hands nor lift my arms much. After 2 months I was able to hand back my crutches and now I'm back to walking my dog 50-60kms a week - albeit with a limp. I'm not cured by any means but I'm far more functional than I was. One thing I have noticed in the last couple of months is that towards the end of the two week injection cycle my joints are beginning to ache more. It's nothing in comparison to how I was but if it continues I'll raise it with my rheumatologist at my next consultation. She previously told me that with some people their immune system starts building antibodies to adalimumab and I was tested for that last year - at the time all was found to be ok.

I know what you mean about steroids I was put onto a high dose of prednisolone 3 weeks after my PsA diagnosis as I also contracted pneumonia and had a CRP reading of 340 (the normal is 2-3). By the second day I thought I was cured and a kindly consultant explained to me the false feelings engendered by the steroid 'rush'.

I hope your health progress continues with Amgevita.