hi,

I am going on my third injection today and it is kind of equivocal wheather I am getting good results I have be feeling quite week and tired and a lot of the pain is still there. But it is still early in the game, at other times I feel somewhat well and notice an improvement. Good luck and be well, Erica

I used Actemera, gave my myself the shots, in my stomach. It was relatively painless. I did feel better, but not as much as my Dr wanted. There was continued swelling, so I was switched. For me to do the IVs/infusions meant driving almost 4 hours, round trip. I do not know how long the infusions for this take, but it could have made for a long day. For the shots, take it out of the refrigerator, wait a while, then give the shot. Much, much faster for me.

I am now on my 6th biologic - Retuxin. This seems to be working the best so far. However, it has to be an infusion. So - drive the 4 hour round trip, plus the 5 hours it takes to get infused - making for a very long day. Fortunately, it only needs to be done every 4 months.

Another thing to consider, at least for my insurance - the shots were massively cheaper!!! I paid about $5 per month. For the infusion, it is over $15,000 per treatment. My insurance paid their portion, leaving me with about $3,000. The Retuxin company kicked in their portion, bringing my expense down to about $600. On the up side, so to speak, I met my deductable ($3,750) very quickly.

Thanks for the feedback! I guess the expense after insurance would lead me to the same decision as you, 2leftfeet - that's a no brainer! I am closer to my rheumatologist's office, and I think the infusion is only about an hour. Rituxan is my other option, but I am worried about the side effects of that one, as I seem to have lots of side effect issues..... Erica - I will look forward to hearing how you do with a little more time on Actemera. Humira took about 6 months to kick in for me, so I wouldn't give up on it just yet. Thank you both, again, for the response!

I have been on Actemra for little over a year. Went through almost 2 years of trying everything out there, but nothing worked till I went on Actemra. I have had RA for almost 30 years, with Enbrel giving me 13 years of relief, then suddenly quitting. The insurance co-pays are getting out of hand, even with the Actemra co-pay card, I still have to fight with the Speciality Pharmacy to submit my claim properly. I swear they make it so hard that you'll feel it's not worth the effort to get the stuff. The relief is worth it. Hope you do well on it, but don't give up!

Hi!

I've been on Actemra for about 2, almost 3 months. I give myself the injections and I've been taking them every other week. So far, I have noticed improvement in my swelling and my flare ups are less frequent. I am switching to taking the injections every week, starting next week, because I am currently still on 5mg prednisone daily and I would like to get off of it.

I've been on enbrel, Humira, Orencia and now actemra. It's still early but I do notice a difference in my RA with actemra. The self-injections are very easy and basically painless. The only side effects I've had are increased fatigue and I tend to get headaches more often.

Good luck!! :)

Hi towne75, I have been on Acterma for the past 5 months. Initially the Acterma was holding me for only 3 weeks. I would start to hurt by the time would be approaching week number 4. Before I got my last dose, my Rheumatologist had said he would increase the dose which was done and I do notice the difference. The Acterma is holding me longer. My fingers are less swollen. And my requirement for pain medication has decreased. I have been on many other biologics and the only one I have been on the longest which was for 2 years was Orencia.

I have been on Rituxan which I was on before beginning Acterma and it would not hold me at all for the 6 months which is why I was a bit leery of trying that medication in the first place due to the side effects and the interval the medication is given. Along with those two biologics, I have also been on Humira, Enbrel, Remicaide, Simponi (which did not work the whole 8 months I was on it), i have been on various DMards as well. Good luck to you

before efficacy comes insurance

my rheumatologist likes to point the way in the decision making

the insurance companies which will require sometimes more than one anti tnf before jumping ship

infusions or injections can be dictated also by insurance and plan program regardless of medical necessity

the admin staff in the rheumatologist office who have your insurance plan on file and your rheumatologist who has years and years of switching patients off from one to another will know what is more likely than not to be covered. you can always have the rheumatologist put in a dummy claim in the process of pre-auth

depot