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Is It Safe To Take Actemra For Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Question: Hello sir, I have been diagnosed with rhematoid arthirits and has been advised to ACTERMA or ENBREL to have a permanent cure.Is it safer and advisable?Please suggest.
Brief Answer:
Biological drugs
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX Thank you for writing on Health Care MAgic.
Well firstly i want to clarify here, that none of these drugs give a permanent cure. No doubt they control the disease very well, but they still have a failure rate of 10-15 %. There is a chance that they will suppress the disease completely but you still have to continue taking Folitrax to prevent the disease from occurring again .
I dont know much of your history here, but here in XXXXXXX we normally keep these drugs as the last line as they dont eradicate the disease completely and they are expensive to purchase as the insurance companies do not cover it. We always try to control it with conventional therapy. But, Yes, if cost is not an issue i will suggest go for it
Amongst Actemra/Enbrel, both are safe for consumption. One needs to get investigated for Tuberculosis and Hepatitis prior to starting the therapy. But Actemra is still not the first line amongst the Biological drugs. International guidelines prefer Remicade or Enbrel, 2nd line is Rituximab and if the disease is still refractory then we go for actemra.
I have briefly answered your question here. Hope this information is useful Do let me know further the query you have. I will be happy to guide you further.
Biological drugs
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX Thank you for writing on Health Care MAgic.
Well firstly i want to clarify here, that none of these drugs give a permanent cure. No doubt they control the disease very well, but they still have a failure rate of 10-15 %. There is a chance that they will suppress the disease completely but you still have to continue taking Folitrax to prevent the disease from occurring again .
I dont know much of your history here, but here in XXXXXXX we normally keep these drugs as the last line as they dont eradicate the disease completely and they are expensive to purchase as the insurance companies do not cover it. We always try to control it with conventional therapy. But, Yes, if cost is not an issue i will suggest go for it
Amongst Actemra/Enbrel, both are safe for consumption. One needs to get investigated for Tuberculosis and Hepatitis prior to starting the therapy. But Actemra is still not the first line amongst the Biological drugs. International guidelines prefer Remicade or Enbrel, 2nd line is Rituximab and if the disease is still refractory then we go for actemra.
I have briefly answered your question here. Hope this information is useful Do let me know further the query you have. I will be happy to guide you further.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Bhagyalaxmi Nalaparaju
i was advised to take acterma or enbrel for a period of 1 year. is it advisable?.. what is the conventional treatment followed?can i go with folitrax treatment presently advised? i d o not have any deformities in joints at present except for a swelling on one of my finger.Also.. How good would ayurvedic and homeopathy treatment work for rhematoid arthiritis..? Thanks in advance..
Brief Answer:
Management of rheumatoid
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX Well if you ask me , i would suggest you that you continue with Folitrax and Leflunomide if needed. If your joint swellings, early morning stiffness is persisting and if you feel your quality of life is getting hampered then go for the biological drugs.
Even with Enbrel and Actemra, you will have to continue taking Folitrax,. So if your joint condition improves on the maximum dose of Folitrax, that would be a better option than the biological drugs. You can always keep them as a back up incase your symptoms are worsening.
But yes, i would personally like to examine the patient and take a look at his blood parameters before suggesting them the biological therapy.
As for ayurvedic and homeopathy, i would recommend you not to go for it. You may get relief initially, but none of the treatment controls the inflammation as well as alopathic. We see lot of patients who are continued on homeopathy and ayurvedic but at some stage they present to us with deformities. I would not recommend.
You can always take a 2nd opinion regarding Biologics. Let me know your location and i can guide you for that
Hope the information was useful
Take care
Regards
Management of rheumatoid
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX Well if you ask me , i would suggest you that you continue with Folitrax and Leflunomide if needed. If your joint swellings, early morning stiffness is persisting and if you feel your quality of life is getting hampered then go for the biological drugs.
Even with Enbrel and Actemra, you will have to continue taking Folitrax,. So if your joint condition improves on the maximum dose of Folitrax, that would be a better option than the biological drugs. You can always keep them as a back up incase your symptoms are worsening.
But yes, i would personally like to examine the patient and take a look at his blood parameters before suggesting them the biological therapy.
As for ayurvedic and homeopathy, i would recommend you not to go for it. You may get relief initially, but none of the treatment controls the inflammation as well as alopathic. We see lot of patients who are continued on homeopathy and ayurvedic but at some stage they present to us with deformities. I would not recommend.
You can always take a 2nd opinion regarding Biologics. Let me know your location and i can guide you for that
Hope the information was useful
Take care
Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
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