Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Anti TNF and other biological medications Consider ANA testing during anti-TNF treatment

Hey what are the more common side effects from Anti - TNF. Could you just list a couple of the more common ones please?

My real concern is, if we're suffering from some side effects of anti-tnfs/Dmards are they permanent effects or reversible effects??

As ridiculous as this may sound, my main concern is, will constant usage of anti-tnf mutate my cells/hormones?

I'm currently weaning off humira but still on my 6 pills a day sulfasalazine regiment, my humira injections are once every 3 weeks now as oppose to once every 2 weeks, does this mean I'll probably have a lower chance to suffer from these side effects should they occur?

I did notice some red line cracks in the white portion of my eye balls when i started on ssz but they're now lesser then what it orignially started with, could those be caused by the ssz or humira or maybe i'm thinking too much?? I don't have iritis, just some red line cracks.

For anyone concerned about the Side Effects of TNF's, I encourage you to look up the statistical data on the subject. While TNF's certainly have a high risk of certain non-serious side effects, e.g., skin irritation, TNF's hardly carry with thim significant increases in serious side effects. While they might double the risk of getting certain diseases, (say, cancer for example), the risk factor simply moves from something like .o2 to .04 per 100. (these aren't the real numbers, but its close to the real picture, I encourage you to look them up).

In reality, their are many things in life that increase the risk of certain fatal diseases and other serious conditions. Not to ruffle any feathers, since I am a LSD fan myself, but I'm sure a LSD or NSD that loads up on meats, especially red meats, more than doubles the risk of certain serious conditions, such as certain heart diseases.

So many times we look at the side of medicine label and see something like, "this may increase the risk of cancer" and we freak out. Now, I'm not advocating not taking percautions of side effects seriously, as we all SHOULD, but just keep in mind that legally speaking, doctors and pharmaceutical companies are required by law to disclose any potential fatal side effect of drugs, no matter how slim the chances are.

My point is, there are many choices in life that we make that may have serious side effects, TNF's are no different.

Those of us who smoke cigarretes who are concerned about taking TNF's, you are crazy! don't even waste time thinking about it! quit smoking, take the TNF, and statistically, you will be better off in the long run.

Ok, kind of a rant, I'm done. Just one's humble opinion.

that's an excellent post Jake. What I like about TNF inhibitors are they are very specific. Unlike MTX, NSAIDS and prednisone. Those are like dropping a bomb in your body to take care of one thing.

DRug companies often hide potentially horrible side effects before they become public (remember Vioxx?). TNF inhibitors have been around long enough so I'm not worried about that. But they havent been around so long that growing an extra head is not out of the equation.

remember the role of TNF in your body. They are gobblers of irregular cells that have potential to turn cancerous. so yes TNF is important in your body. But keep in mind we have too much of it in our AS body. So the drug reduces the amount of it. Some more then others. Enbrel tends to slide along TNF and REDUCE the amount of it. Remicade is much more potent. It gobbles up the whole sucker. Keep stuff like that in mind.