PMR and Methotrexate

I have not heard of it. But it is a similar drug to Humira. I am on another facebook page for PMR and someone just posted that Humira with MTX had allowed them to get below 5mg of prednisone for the first time in years. She was now at 1mg with no pain. The drug is used for RA which has very similar characteristics to PMR. Any drug will have side effects. If you have just PMR then the thought will be to get off steroids and then off the other drugs. At least these other drugs do not have the "addictive effect" of prednisone.

@tuckerp They think I have a combination of PMR and RA. I am alone in this and shouldn't ask you but would you try it? I have been battling weakness and fatigue — really profound for several weeks. Better today for some reason. Thanks so much for responding.

I think a couple on here are better at RA benefits. Dadcue is one. Another lady with similar RA and PMR. She has been through it all. I can send you this
"Humira has an average rating of 6.3 out of 10 from a total of 679 ratings on Drugs.com. 54% of reviewers reported a positive effect, while 32% reported a negative effect."
"Simponi has an average rating of 6.2 out of 10 from a total of 114 ratings on Drugs.com. 54% of reviewers reported a positive effect, while 30% reported a negative effect".
https://www.drugs.com/compare/humira-vs-simponi

@dadcue have you heard of an infusion called Simponi? Have combination of PMR and RA. Hate to mess up my system with more meds. Dosn't ,seem to have a very high success rate.

@tuckerp Thanks for info. Really helps!

The other lady has reactive Arthritis. Her mayo name is pb50.

I know the name but I don't have any personal experience with taking Simponi. I have inflammatory arthritis along with PMR. I don't have RA but I do have another type of inflammatory arthritis.

The problem you may encounter when you have a combination of things is what might work for one thing might not work for the other thing.

I was diagnosed with PMR after many years of inflammatory arthritis. Generally, inflammatory arthritis of any kind isn't treated with long term Prednisone like PMR is treated. However, Prednisone relieves the pain caused by both PMR and inflammatory arthritis.

PMR alone supposedly does cause any permanent damage. Inflammatory arthritis does cause permanent joint damage. Simponi is another TNF-inhibitor . There are many TNF-inhibitors that are used to treat RA and other types of inflammatory arthritis. However, TNF-inhibitors haven't been shown to be effective for PMR.

I always tell people they won't know what works unless they try it to see. A TNF-inhibitor might work for you but there is never any guarantee. My only experience with a TNF-inhibitor is with Humira --- it didn't work for me. Humira was easy to stop when it didn't work so no harm was done. That is a big problem with Prednisone because it isn't easy to stop in case of side effects but it effectively relieves pain for many conditions so not just PMR.

What worked for me was Actemra. It is a IL-6 inhibitor that was targeted at PMR. For me, Actemra worked for PMR and has been beneficial for my type of inflammatory arthritis. I have been off Prednisone for 3 years so I'm very pleased with Actemra.

marymckeith here is the response from the lady on the other facebook page I belong to. This is her response which as dadcue mentioned what works for one might not for another.

Anne Brown
Author
Michael Started Humira 2 weeks ago, just did my 2nd shot today. Amazingly I started feeling better after the 1st one. Was on 2-3 mg of prednisone after the 1st shot went to 1 mg today went to a half a mg and still feel pretty good . My Rheumatologist thinks I have RA and PMR because of my knees swelling, even though the marker for RA didn't show on my bloodwork. He told some people have it, but no markers for it. I tried Actemra didn't work, he suggested humira since it works on a different part of the immune system. Seem to be working or I went in spontaneous remission when I started it.

@pb50 has RA but hasn't been diagnosed with PMR. Her son had reactive arthritis.

We need more people with RA on this forum. Their experience is invaluable to people with PMR. People with RA were pioneers in the history of Prednisone.
https://www.medcentral.com/rheumatology/rheumatoid-arthritis/steroid-use-treatment-rheumatic-regional-pain-disorders
While Prednisone is still used in the treatment of RA --- long term Prednisone use wasn't the miracle that was hoped for.

People with PMR can learn a lot from people with RA.

Hello @cwadamssc54, Welcome to Connect. You will notice that we merged your discussion with the following discussion on the same topic. If you click the link, it will take you to the beginning of the discussion where you can learn what other members have shared on using methotrexate for PMR.

--- PMR and Methotrexate: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-and-methotrexate/.

It's been a few days since you posted. How is the methotrexate working for your PMR pain management?