Has anyone had any good results whilst taking Simponi?
I have been on Anti Tnf medication for around 10 years now, with some good results over 8 of them.
I started on Remicade around 10 years ago. After around 5 years on Remicade, the benefits decreased. I then started Humira, had 3 good years on that. Over the last 2 years the benefits from Humira have decreased.
I'm going to start Simponi in around 3 weeks time, hoping for some decent pain control.
Anyone else tried a few different Anti Tnf medications?
Thanks.

I'm on my fourth biologic in two years. Humira was the first one, and was wonderful from day one. The rest I've had little, or no success with. Simponi didn't do anything for me, but as we know that's no indicator it won't work for the next guy. I certainly hope it will for you. Fingers crossed (those that aren't crooked and swollen )

Millford,
Thanks for posting.
With my experience with biologics, they took beteen 6-12 weeks to work. Before I experienced any pain relief, then over time, became less effective. Talking about Remicade & Humira. Humira for me now, seems not to be helping at all. Well I have taken it for around 5 years.
I was quite happy plodding along with nsaids for pain control, until they totally wrecked my stomach. Then started on Remicade.
I have had times in the past, where I suffered from low pain days. It's been that long now, I cant remeber.
I hope you find some future pain relief.
Cheers.

I tried Enbrel...didnt work Humira...worked for a year. Now i am on Simponi and it worked about an hour after i injected it.I am still on Simponi and pain is reduced big time.I just have a little acke in my lower back.I have been on Simponi for 3 years now.

Hope it works this well for you my friend.

Fonzy,
Thanks for your reply.
I'm really pleased Simponi is still working for you. I really don't know why it has took me 2 years to make my mind up to come off Humira, as its not been working well for a long while. Still time for change.
Hoping for some low pain days ahead.
Like the dog. I have a staffi cross, my second staff. She keeps me active.

Simponi started working for me immediately and by the 3rd month I was pain free. Now after my 8th dose I'm feeling a little bit of a flare up. I hope its temporary but if not I may need to switch to another biologic. Simponi was my first one.

I am getting great results with Simponi and have no side effects except for some tiredness a day or two after injecting. I do still flare when I get ill and then I take extra steroids to kick out the flare. Prior to Simponi, I tried Enbrel, Humira and Remicade. Humira did nothing for me. I did get some pain relief on Enbrel and Remicade but I was always sick with infection and had all over hives. I think I developed antibodies to Enbrel and Remicade. Hope you get great success on Simponi.

Shari

J28,
I hope Simponi keeps working for yourself. I should of tried changing to another Anti Tnf around a year ago. As Humira is certainly not working for me now. I've been on it for around 5 years. So done well really.

Shari,
Thanks for your reply.
Pleased your getting along well with Simponi, long may it last. I think Remicade worked for me better than Humira initially. Humira not working for me at all now.
I've struggled mainly with my ribs and back now for around 6 months. After changing my car. Struggling with my seat. Use my car for work quite a lot.
I'm starting Simponi in a couple of days time. Has now been a month since my last Humira shot.
My fingers are crossed for some low pain days ahead.

Update.
Have started on Simponi. Will give it a few months, then I will post back with the results.

Hope you are getting positive results on Simponi.

Winter,
Not as yet, but it has been less than a week. Have a virus at the moment, so that's not helping. With the other two Anti Tnfs I have tried. They seemed to take around 4-12 weeks, before I felt any positive results.
Thanks for asking.

Sorry you have a bug. I am finding that LDN is helping keep me more healthy but now that I typed that, I will probably be doomed.

Hope you get some relief from your illness and AS real soon.

Shari

Shari,
I asked my G.P about LDN a number of years ago, but she wouldn't prescribed it for me. I do live in the U.K, can be a battle at times. When it comes to medication & treatments.
I don't think taking anti tnf meds for the last 10 years as helped me on the virus front. Still not missed a days work in 5 years. I tend to go in, no matter how bad I'm feeling There again, I only work part time. If my health was better, would like to work more. I tend to know my limitatiions these days with work. I do feel lucky, to be able to work.
Hope LDN keeps working for you.

Thanks for the kind words. You sound like a hard worker. I work prn in a nursing home and have been on biologics for 10 years. I gave my body a break from biologics for a couple years due to illness and had a hell of a time getting the disease managed again.

Have you visited the LDN boards? You should be able to find a doc to prescribe you LDN on there. LDN is inexpensive and is well tolerated. It has been a game changer for me. Prior to LDN, I was taking a lot of antibiotics and had a lot more pain and fatigue.

Hope you are feeling better.

Shari

Shari,
Thanks for your reply.
I work as an adult disability support worker.
Had a career change a number of years ago, due to me A.S & eye issue.
I also suffer from extreme photophobia within my right eye (long story), probably caused by an iritis flare. Have to wear cat 4 wrap around sunglasses both indoors & out now, all of the time. Have done for around 6 years. Now have a cataract within my right eye.
Regarding ldn. Will probably stick it out a bit longer on Anti Tnf, without ldn. Appreciate the kind thought though.
Many thanks.

Your job sounds interesting. I would love a desk job helping the disabled. Many of those jobs here are full-time. Sorry to hear about your eye issue and having to wear the wrap all the time. Does that help the pain and or sensitivity? I never experienced iritis. Hope you start getting more pain relief on your biologic. Take care.

Shari

Shari,
My job is mainly community based. Supporting adults with learning/physical difficulities within their homes, out & about within the community. A career change, to be honest. Job I can manage & enjoy. Can be challenging at times.
Yes I wear the glasses, reduces the pain/glare from light.
My pain levels seem a little batter, hard to tell putting up with a virus still. It's going around. Neither does it help being on a biologic.

One thing I've wondered is what's the big deal with SIMPONI and why is it different from HUMIRA. They are, after all, both fully-human anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies.

I got an answer. Golimumab (SIMPONI) is more stable both in buffered solution and in the human body than adalimumab (HUMIRA). It has a 3.3-fold higher affinity for TNF-alpha and thus has a stronger effect and works at lower serum and tissue concentrations. Thus, it does actually appear to be a superior product. Interestingly, both drugs have terminal elimination half-lives of about two weeks. But because golimumab has higher affinity, it probably keeps working until the next injection in 30 days while adalimumab doesn't and needs dosing every two weeks.

Hello everyone,

I was managing my As with nsaids and sulfasalazine for almost 5+years till now. I still had pain, sometimes significantly much but now after a recent flare which resulted in swollen toes and eye inflammation my doc is going to give simponi to me in 2 weeks time. Read about this changing people's lives so hoping for the same. May be after this, I can play football with my 5 year old son!

MikeGinnyMD, that's interesting about Simponi--since I never really got any relief after 2 weeks into the dose, then gave up after 8-9 months. (But I did like their auto-injector--very painless, even though I usually used the pre-filled syringes.) I was really skeptical of Cimzia after having so much trouble with Simponi, given that both were monthly doses. Yet Cimzia DOES last me a whole month (two shots at same time). Just shows that everyone is different. If one doesn't work, just move on to another. Cimzia is my 5th one.

If the simponi is a superior drug compared to say humira, as some of these posts describe, I hope that the insurance companies will start approving biologics past remicade, humira, and embrel. that's all my insurance company will allow now, so i was fortunate that my rheumy and i decided to start with humira and fortunate that thus far it works well.

maybe in time they will relax their approvals. i know its all about money. and know peole can petition, but nice when people don't have to take that extra step.