I have been on Amjevita, my first biologic, for about a year now. It was wonderful once it kicked in. I mean, wonderful as in I no longer felt like complete crap, which was life changing. I had already taken Methotrexate, which I couldn't handle because of major fatigue and weird memory issues--but it worked on my systemic inflammation while I took it. My rheumy prescribed hydroxychloroquine to pair with the Amjevita (I have Sjogren's but she also said it might keep me on Amjevita longer--to tamp down my body's reaction to it). However, I had a bad allergic reaction to it, which sent me to the hospital. My dilemmna now is that the Amjevita was working for shorter periods of time until about two months ago, and it now seems to not be working at all. I do the injection, wait around a couple days and nothing. Could it be working and if I stopped, I'd be a lot worse? (Shrug) What do you all think--should I request a change in biologic? When I last talked to my rheumy, I said that I had more pain and stiffness and she said to take celecoxib. However, I'm much worse and I don't want to just tack on another med--I want something that will target the systemic inflammation that is causing damage to all those organs and bits in my body that I need for the rest of my life. Also, I'm really freaking out because the inflammation is damaging my right (dominant) hand and my left hand has already been damaged and is a real wimp--doesn't grip well or close completely. Is this just a flare? Do I need a new biologic?
As I typed this out, I realized that I'm stinking scared about trying a new med, having bad side effects, and being even worse than I am now.