Customer Reviews

Arthritis Without Pain: The Miracle of TNF Blockers

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is awesome. I only wish I had known about it sooner! I've had RA for 15 years, and was a patient in the clinical trial for Enbrel. Enbrel gave me back my life. But after 7 years, the effect has tapered off even after my rheumy added methotrexate. Last appointment, he said we ought to think about changing to a different TNF blocker. He recommended Remicade, which is an IV treatment, and told me to think about it. I wasn't quite sure what to think.

So I went web surfing. I read a good review about this book on the "About Arthritis" web site (arthritis.about.com/od/brms/gr/tnfblockers.htm), and bought it immediately. I couldn't put the book down! It is packed with the kind of information that would be otherwise hard to find in a single place. It offered all the pros and cons of TNF blockers, and has a "test" to help you decide if the therapy is for you or not. It compares all three TNF blockers head to head, after devoting a chapter to each. What a terrific resource! Not only did I learn things about Enbrel that I never knew, but it also answered questions that no one could really ever answer to my satisfaction (like why is it necessary to INJECT Enbrel?). Better yet, I learned ALL about Remicade, and other option called Humira (which is an injection like Enbrel, but only 2 shots per month!). The book gives pros and cons of all three treatments, and is very balanced. It's also an easy read, and the patient stories make you feel like you're not alone in this struggle.

Bottom line, I really felt like I got totally expert AND unbiased advise about what to do next...and I now feel confident, excited and HOPEFUL that I still have options.

So if you have RA, and don't know about TNF blockers, buy this book. If you have RA and are already on a TNF blocker, buy this book. And if you're like me, and your current TNF blocker is losing its effect, buy this book. Then run to your rheumy and get living again!

I am extremely happy that I found this book. I was looking for information on how these drugs, more correctly, biologics, are manufactured. I could not get a clear understanding of this from either the maker's literature, at least not literature that I could find, or literature on the drugs that I was given. I did find a complete description of the manufacturing process for each of the drugs in Dr. Zashin's book to the depth that I was interested.

Dr. Zashin also includes a great deal of background material on various types of arthritis. Most sources that I have found focus primarily on rheumatoid arthritis and give other forms a footnote or two. This is almost a primer for the arthritis patient in itself.

He has written this book in a very readable style making it comprehendible for the layman without being condesending. I found that I was actually reading this book before I went to sleep instead on my usual fictional material because it was that easy to read.

Dr. Zashin includes experiences of some patients on these medications in their own words. Most make the reader optimistic but there are a few that deal with the problems of obtaining these drugs due to their expense that are not. I would rather get an objective view of what to expect however than an unrealistic but rosy one.

An individual chapter is devoted to each of the three TNF inhibitors Remicade, Embrel and Humira. The same categories of information on each drug is presented and the pros and cons of each. Dr. Zashin also provides reports of clinical trials as appendices and a chapter on issues of delivery of the drugs such as issues with self-injection.

A surprise for me was the information he included on the (high) price of the drugs. It is of course, good to know.

The only two things I found lacking about the book were first; that the copyright date showed it to be a year ago that it was updated. Normally, for a bound text this is relatively recent however a great deal can happen in a year such as a drug might be approved for more uses or more clinical trials may have been completed showing more efficacy of one drug over another for a given condition. Second, I would like to have seen more patient stories. As I said, I found these to provide a feeling of optimism.

As a nurse, I enjoyed this book on two levels. First, for the indepth information it provides about TNF blockers as a class of drugs and then a chapter for each of the individual drugs Enbrel, Humira, and Remicade.

Second, this book is very patient friendly. It's filled with lots of helpful charts, a decision matrix and a whole chapter of questions and answers on everything from what to do if you miss a dose to why these drugs need refrigeration. It even explains how patients without insurance or pharmacy benefits can get help obtaining these medications. The patient stories and quotes also make the book interesting.

This book is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (and Psoriatic Arthtirits and Ankylosing Spondylitis), or anyone considering or now taking Enbrel, Humira, or Remicade.
This book is perfect for physicians and nurses too!

"Arthritis Without Pain" is the best title for marketing the book. It gets the book into the hands of the people who can benefit the most. The book gives an authoritative history of what is known about TNF in layman terms. It provides a communications link between the doctors and the patients, which makes for better treatment. I have personally used "Arthritis Without Pain" with my primary family doctor, respiratory doctor, cardiovascular doctor, neurologist and dermatologist. It helps explains how high levels of TNF appear to be a common connection between, psoratic arthritis,central sleep apnea,and braycardia which requires a pacemaker. In my specific situation Enbrel seems to act as little sponges that absorb about 1/2 the TNF in my blood. That has reduced the pain and suffering in all areas.

Wonderful news about the recent advances in treating arthritis. I found the book well organized and the chapters about the leading TNF blockers quite reasonable in length and content.

I found this book extremely helpful in explaining TNF blockers. Being newly diagnosed with RA, I was scared of all the side effects but this book is uplifting and gives hope that you CAN live a normal life. This book is easy to understand and will give you all the information you need to have an intelligent discussion with your doctor. It is important to understand everything about your diagnosis and this is the first step.

This book has all the information that anyone could ever want to know about Arthritis and the TNF blockers. I was very impressed. Even after dealing with RA for over 30 years I still learned alot that I didn't know.

This is an excellent book. I see Dr. Zashin for Sjogren's syndrome and he is an excellent Doctor. I found the book to be very knowledgeable.

I got this book hoping to get info beyond the pharmaceutical industry hype and found it to be a pure ad for big pharma. This particular book seems to be a compilation of pharma marketing points.
Right now we are hopeful the drugs will work, but the book gave us no info (that we had not already seen on humira websites) to help with the decision. Maybe the problem is insufficient experience with the product. Whatever reason, save your money, just google the drugs and get the same info in the book.