Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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fed-up 05/30/2016

Once a drug stops working, does that mean it will NEVER work again in the future?

oceans11 05/30/2016

Hmmm?? That's a great question?!!!

I wonder if it does stop working is it like your body needs a break from it or did your body just build up an immunity to it?

51percent 05/30/2016

Depends on the drug. If you are talking about a biologic drug and you've developed antibodies to the drug then yes, that drug will never work again. Your body has developed a way to counteract the drug.

If it's something like MTX, then it could just be that you need a break from the drug and the slowly bring the dosage up again and see if it helps.

What drug are you asking about?

MarleneJ 05/30/2016

They only drug that I had that truly failed, was Simponi. It worked fine one month and the next month, even a double dose didn't work. (Well, Kineret failed without a biologic, but that was sort of different.)

My rheumatologist immediately went onto another drug. Which didn't work either. Well, never worked in the first place.

He also told me in view of my past history, he didn't think I would ever have control again. I am not believing this! I have decided to stay on Orencia till it fails in the next year or so, then back to Kineret. We shall see.

I hope you find a new biologic to work for you.

depotblue 05/31/2016

i don't know.

if i come off actemra (low platelets low white cell count, doubled cholesterol and I am NOT going to take a freakin' statin, period. I want my 120-150 cholesterol back back)

then the rheum says I might go back to humira from 5 years ago. I can't take remicaide or rituxan it looks like, due to my lungs.

i'll let you know, later - the hard and fast rules are that there are no hard and fast rules only script pads and script writers.

hang in there

depot

californialynn 05/31/2016

For starters.....how do you know the drug stopped working? Maybe you're flaring and the drug hasn't caught up with it [to cover the flare].

I remember being in the rheumatologist's waiting room, chatting up a pharmaceutical rep who was also waiting. Told him how I loved Celebrex but that it had stopped working after a couple years. He said that often if you go off it for a few months, then re-start it, it works again.

And it did.

51percent 05/31/2016

Thanks RA Sally...that is what I was talking about but didn't know the technical name was acquired resistance. I did know we could develop antibodies to our biologic drugs. Then no matter how much you take, you won't derive any benefit as the body is neutralizing it.

But what drug are you talking about?

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