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Replies to "Gosh I appreciate everyone taking the time to educate me on the differences between PMR and..."
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Mar 13 6:24pm | Replies (63)
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Gosh I appreciate everyone taking the time to educate me on the differences between PMR and RA. I will just say that my Rheumy in NYC was quite comfortable advising that I had symptomatic overlap but it doesn’t matter. We treat with an anti-TNF and If I have a period where the anti-TNF isn’t addressing the pain, prednisone will. So to me - I understand distinctions between the two quite well - I just also understand that sometimes the difference is without distinction.
Replies to "Gosh I appreciate everyone taking the time to educate me on the differences between PMR and..."
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I'm in the same boat except an IL-6 inhibitor (Actemra) works better than a TNF inhibitor (Humira). I can't say Humira "failed" but I needed Prednisone to supplement Humira. That was disheartening to me because I was able to get off Prednisone completely with Actemra.
My rheumatologist asked me which biologic worked better for me because I couldn't take both Actemra and Humira. He added it would be impossible to "optimally treat" two different conditions or more than two with a single biologic.
It was entirely my choice to take Actemra. My rheumatologist agreed with my decision saying it was better than being on Prednisone for the rest of my life.
My ophthalmolgist wasn't so pleased with my decision to take Actemra. She said it was just a matter of time until uveitis would flare up again.
I'm solidly in the camp that says whatever works best for you as an individual. At this stage, I have taken so much Prednisone, a supplemental dose once in a while probably wouldn't do any more harm than it has already.