Hi Neilos,

NICE had said that if we failed on one anti-tnf drug we could not try another and now they have reversed their decision so that if we are on an anti-tnf and it doesn't work for us we can try another one.

The process for being prescribed the anti-tnfs remains the same, ( I think) ,you have to have failed on 2 DMARDS and pass two assessments which include the DAS test.

Is mtx the only DMARD you have had so far? It's quite usual now to take a combination of 2 or 3 DMARDs to gat the disease under control, which may be the next step for you.

Hope you get some improvement soon.
Love, Doreen xx

Hi Nelios, sorry to hear that you have a rotten time on Methro. I know what you mean, I spent 4 months on it and had a terrible time on it. I've just started Enbrel and my understanding is that you have to fail on a couple of them first to be eliglble to start the biologics and i think they look at how many joints are swollen. When they assesed me for the biologics, they assessed my disease activity one month and then I had to go back the next month for another disease activity score, and I think they look at your ESR and CRP and they ask you about what activities you can do.

All the best