<p>I’m a relatively recent diagnosed RA patient (2.5 years) and it my pain has been intermittent flares over the 1st 2 years and I take Plaquinil as a maintenance medicine. In the past 6 month the flares have become quite frequent and the pain much wore and in more than just the writss and ankles. Doctor wants me on Methotrexate and possibly a biologic. A friend of my husbands is suggesting I take Type 2 collagen tablets or make my own Type 2 collagen and take that for a while before agreeing to get on the heavy stuff. I thought I’d do a quick check to see if anyone else has tried Type 2 collagen for inflammation relief and if so, what were the results and how did you feel when you were taking it?</p>
<p>Take the biologic!!! Every person is different, but I’ve had RA for 30 years, and so I’ve tried everything. I only wish they’d had biologics sooner. FWIW, methotrexate is awful, and I’d try to skip that step. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need some support. 
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<p>How old are you?</p>
<p>I’m 58 - I’ve been trying to avoid taking the MTX but my Dr. led me to believe you have to take it 1st or in conjunction with a biologic. Someone at work is taking MTX and has for many, many years w/out any issues but is also on the …same pain medication I’m on for painful flares, he’s taking several a day to manage the pain…which totally confuses me because I thought the MTX got rid of the inflammation so you didn’t need pain med.</p>
<p>My H has psoriatic arthritis. I know it’s different than RA but he immediately after diagnosis went on enbrel. No methotrexate at all. </p>
<p>It’s been a miracle. We are so lucky he found a rheumatologist we trust. </p>
<p>Good luck to you, this is not fun. </p>
<p>For lupus we are still using prednisone as needed. We have used Plaquenil for far too long and prednisone or Medrol were the next step for us. I am wondering if docs don’t use that for RA anymore? I know some docs try antibiotics but that is hardly mainstream</p>
<p>My son has been on biologics for 8 years for ankylosing spondylitis. Again, a different type of arthritis, but they have been his miracle drugs!!! Many, if not most, insurances require that patients try methotrexate prior to biologics due to the high cost of biologics. For my son, mtx was useless- his Dr. discontinued it about 6 months after he started Enbrel. Type 2 collagen has no proven track record w/ RA although it does not appear to cause adverse effects. We researched thoroughly before starting our son on Enbrel (he is currently on Humira) and concluded that he would suffer permanent joint damage w/o it. He gets blood tests every 8 weeks and has had absolutely no side effects in 8 years. As far as benefits, he went from severe joint pain in hips, knees, ankles and lower back - to the point that it was difficult to walk- to playing a college sport. His symptoms return quickly if he misses a dose. Just don’t rule the biologics out!</p>
<p>I can’t speak directly to the RA, but H was diagnosed with stage 4 sarcoidosis (also autoimmune) in 2007. His treatment options were Methotrexate or Plaquenil… He was on Plaquenil for several years. Based on the side effects, he really didn’t want to take Methotrexate. That would’ve probably been the next step had the Plaquenil not worked. How long will they let you stay on Plaquenil? He was at the end of the time his doctor would allow based on its risks. He has had a couple of minor relapses but was able to get through them.</p>
<p>Compmom - so you are taking nothing for regular inflammation reduction management? I didn’t think prednisone was for long term maintenance of the disease. I’ve had cortisone shots for pain and prednisone prescription when I had a bad flare and that was for the immediate and it worked great but I’m past the point of going for pain relief from flare to flare. As my Dr pointed out - if you can stand the pain, that’s great but that isn’t the problem - the problem is when you are in pain your joints are being destroyed. Hiding the pain and not fixing the problem can have you bedridden pretty quick. Of course I’m referring to RA and not Lupus - not sure if the implications are the same.</p>
<p>I think my Dr. will let me stay on Plaquenil indefinitely as long as my vision field tests keep coming out okay but its not working now. I don’t know if it ever did - how do you know if it was working or you just weren’t having flares? It’s only been 2.5 years from an initial flare that started the diagnosis. Regardless, the flares are coming more frequently, more places, and the pain medication is not helping as much. I am in the middle of an episode now and trying to figure out what I want to say to the Dr. this week. </p>
<p>takeitallin - I was hoping I could find someone that actually took it for a while and it worked…all I’ve found is hopeful articles, blogs, a Johns Hopkins study that said it wasn’t any better than MTX (but if it is just as good - that’s better), and a Harvard study that I can’t read but sounds like it does reduce inflammation to some extent.</p>
<p>Threeofthree- I wish I could help but I don’t know of anyone personally who has used collagen 2. I do know that the pain indicates inflammation which eventually will cause permanent joint damage. I was happy that my son did not have to stay on MtX for long. We saw no results from it and his Dr. was more worried about long term side effects from it than from the biologics. However, she could not get Enbrel approved until he had at least tried MtX. I do know that the biologics have, for now, prevented further damage to my son’s joints. They do not repair previous damage but have allowed him to live a more normal life. I’m sorry that you are having to deal with this as I think in some ways, dealing with possible effects of the drugs is as scary as the disease. </p>
<p>No personal experience but I just met a new client yesterday who mentioned that she is on Enbrel for RA and feel that it is a miracle drug.</p>
<p>I have had rheumatoid arthritis for 23 years, and I would say that it is under very good control. I have cycled through many drugs, but have never used a biologic or Type 2 collagen. I began with Plaquinil, moved on to Azulfidine, and then onto Azulfidine and Diclofenac together. After an unusually severe flare up, I was prescribed Methotrexate, but the side effects were a problem, and it didn’t work for me. My rheumatologist took me off Diclofenac after a study showed a greatly increased risk of heart disease with its use. I now take Azulfidine and Celebrex together, which seems to be working.</p>
<p>I am giving you this history, because I want to make the point that different drugs may work for you at different times. Some may work; some may never work; some may work for awhile and then lose their efficacy–and you won’t know the result until you try them. There is usually a hierarchy for trying new RA drugs which seems to be based on their strength, their potential side effects, and the willingness of insurance companies to cover them. For instance, in my experience most insurance companies will require you to “fail” on Methotrexate before being willing to cover a biologic. In my own case, I was taking Celebrex for over a year, when suddenly my insurance company wanted me to switch to Naproxen to reduce their cost. I had to spend 6 miserable weeks on Naproxen, before my rheumatologist could convince them to cover the Celebrex again.</p>
<p>I have no idea why your rheumatologist has chosen to treat you with the particular drug you are currently taking, or why he (or she) is recommending a combination of Methotrexate and a biologic, but if you are uncomfortable with taking the Methotrexate, it would be perfectly reasonable to ask your rheumatologist about the possibility of starting with an NSAID or Celebrex along with your Plaquinil. You could also ask about Azulfudine as a substitute for the Plaquinil. Finally, it might be prudent to ask your insurance company what drugs they will cover and when. </p>
<p>In any event, I wish you well and sympathize with the pain you must be feeling during this flare up.</p>
<p>Thanks Lady Lorna - I’m sure the Dr will do xrays and determine the next step but he has mentioned that if the flares become more frequent/severe the MTX is usually the next step. I will certainly tell the Dr about my concerns, I just didn’t get the impression when I spoke with him at the beginning of this adventure that there were many options with the excellent results from MTX without the toxicity. I was hopeful that perhaps the Type 2 Collagen could work with the Plaquenil to stave off the frequency and severity of the flares and not have to go w/ the toxic stuff this early. I’ll keep your information handy and ask him about other products. BTW thank heavens for Prednisone - wow that stuff is good!</p>
<p>I took the type 2 collagen for several months; it was the Neocell brand that seems to get good reviews on Amazon. However, it made no difference in pain/inflammation at all, I must say. I think it may even have caused some intestinal upset because when I stopped taking it that went away. I use Humira in combination with 4 or 5 MTX tablets/week and that seems to be the best combo for me. Started the Humira about 1.5 years after the RA diagnosis.</p>
<p>@yoamogatos - my Neocell tablets are in transit to be delivered tomorrow or Friday. Do you mind telling me if you’ve had any side effects from the MTX?</p>
<p>I think the standard full dose is 8 tablets per week, so my 4-5 perhaps reduce the amount of side effects. At this point they don’t seem to give me any side affects, although in the first few months I think the 8 tab dose gave me some queasiness and GI issues the day after the dose. (I assume you know you only take the MTX once a week) One thing I’ll also say is they made an improvement in my skin, helped with acne and oiliness. I think this may be because they can affect hormones.</p>
<p>I hope the Neocell is of benefit to you. I’ve been taking tumeric (curcumin) supplements for a couple of years now; you might look into that too. Also an anti-inflammatory diet (which is healthy anyway) such as Junger’s Clean program or Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet. Cut down on the sugars, red meat, eat fresh local produce and organic animal products.</p>
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<p>My wife got psoriatic arthritis as a relatively young woman (afaik, well before the biologicals of today were available). It was kept under good control with relatively benign medication (interestingly enough, gold capsules worked well). As you probably know, many autoimmune diseases go into remission during pregnancy (but you must stop taking many of the meds 6 months before you try to become pregnant). After our first child, the meds again worked well. After our second child, none of the old meds worked at all. </p>
<p>After a brief try with Humira, which was not well tolerated, my wife has been taking Enbrel at a slightly higher dosage (once every 5 days rather than 7). Her rheumatologist says that it’s the reason my wife still runs marathons (albeit pretty slowly) rather than being confined to a wheelchair. </p>
<p>We have a high deductible health plan, which works well for us. The good news and the bad news is that we are finished with our out-of-pocket spending before March is over. It is a sufficiently life changing medication that we would (since we’re able to) pay for it all year if we had to. </p>
<p>ixnayBob that was my wife’s experience also. She went into remission while pregnant but her disease came back. My wife has been on everyone of the drugs discussed so far. </p>
<p>Autoimmune diseases affect women more than men.</p>