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Cimzia after Humira and Remicade

After talking with new doctor about potential options she mentioned Cimzia but said its not a great option because Humira didn't really work for me, and Remicade worked for a few years and then I got major side effects like joint pain, gluten intolerance, fibromyalgia.

Has anyone has success after have the other biologics fail? I was hoping Cimzia would be an option since my case typically hasn't been surgical, and I can't do steroids...so I'm sorta running out of options
 
Cimzia did nothing for my daughter after Remicade and Humira failed. She is now on Stelara which is a different type of biologic and finally helped her! I would talk to your doctor about this option!
 
Went on/ off Remicade 3 times over 4 years but due to the area I was in and the face I was in college I wasn't able to afford transportation costs we dropped remicade after seeing a response for humira.

Humira worked almost 1 year before I started seeing major repeating infections and a decrease in management of symptoms. Remained on it for another 10 months. Took almost 3 months, no meds but prednisone, to get infections to completely clear up so I could begin Cimzia. Had the lovely pleasure of becoming reacquainted with erythema nodosum during that last year on humira which is finally healing.

Started Cimzia back in May hoping for something with no response - only been 12 weeks but due to current health condition and the fact that the disease is acute from above the stomach, through small intestine, ileum and large intestine surgery is only an emergency life/death option.

Now working on getting Entyvio approved - hopefully the fact that it's not another TNF blocker gives better odds that it'll be effective since I'm not really sure where one turns after failing/ showing no response to all TNF blockers and all other maintenance drugs.
 

nogutsnoglory

Moderator
They are all similar but unique enough that you can fail one and do great on another. I tried Cimzia after humira. It helped with a stricture but didn't help perianal disease one bit. I'm now on remicade.
 
Well, I have been on all three. My experiences were pretty bad with all of them. Remi I was allergic to, Humira I got drug-induced lupus and developed an allergy to, and Cimzia worked (put me in remission) but I became allergic to, as well. Because of this, I have sworn off all TNF inhibitors.

Some meds that may be an option are Tysabri or Vedolizumab. These aren't TNF inhibitors, so may work well for you. Or perhaps you could try methotrexate, which is also not in the anti-TNF class.

Do you mind me asking why you aren't on Mercaptopurine or Imuran if it seemed to help you before? Because you could take that again if you didn't have bad responses to it.
 
I've always understood that the differences between the TNF's arn't very large and since I had such a bad reaction to Remicade I think that implies we shouldn't push my luck.

I'm not on Imuran because it worked in combo with 100mg prednisone and humira, so basically no clue how much it helped. My doctor took me off of it when I started Remicade because the combo of Imuran and Remicade has been known to cause a rare form of fatal liver cancer- not worth it.

I'm currently on MTX, 25 mg a week which is max dose but MTX is most effective with a TNF so it held me in remission for a few months thats it.
 
Did you get any nasty side effects from Imuran? Because it might be worth a shot at trying that again. You could try Mercaptopurine, which is very similar to Imuran but slightly different so that it may be a better option for you if Imuran was not so great.

There is also IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin). It's not commonly used for Crohn's, but can be used in cases like yours where most other meds aren't options. I think it is pretty hard to get a doc to prescribe, and I don't know if GI's even prescribe it. I know that Immunologists or Rheumatologists have, though. Maybe worth a mention to your doc.

Finally, have you considered Low-dose Naltrexone? I don't have any personal experience with this, but I know that others have used it with positive results. Quite a few on this forum, actually. Again, that one is pretty difficult to get a prescription for from GI's.
 
yeah Imuran is on the list of things to go back on, my doc seems to think that Imuran alone would not be enough to control my disease, so we would have to find about something else.

I will ask my doc about the other 2 thanks!
 
Have been on cimzia for about 10 months and I am now starting to lose hope. Injections aren't lasting as long as they should, I have eurythema nodosum on my shin as we speak and recently found a lump in my elbow and wrist both of which hurt to the touch. Have appt. this Tuesday and will hopefully have another option.
Diagnosed since 2010. Failed on asacol,6mp,Remicadee,humira,methotrexate,and now possibly cimzia.
 
I also had similiar experiences - immune to remicade after about 4 years, doing well with Humira until about 9 weeks ago when I had a severe allergic reaction. Now fighting with insurance company to prove I am sick enough for Stelara! What other options do I have?? Been without a bio inject since the reaction.:(
 
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