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JRA & Asthma and Humira?

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Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Posted 9/21/2015 6:07 PM (GMT 0)
My child is 11 yrs. old and has been diagnosed with JRA and asthma! The insurance company is pushing Humira on her for treatment of the Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and I am very worried about the side effects with her having asthma also! Any advice or anyone try mixing Humira with the asthma issue? I watch my child suffer with the severe case of JRA and I sure do not want to chance her health & breathing issues with a forced upon medication! Please help if you can! I want to be informed on JRA and the available treatments! Thank you so much! God bless you all.. Kathy N.
Posted 9/23/2015 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Kathy, I do not have experience with JRA and asthma but I have never heard of anyone having any kind of breathing problems on Humira or any biologic. Infection is the biggest issue with them so it is something we need to stay aware of. Many of the side effects we read about with biologics are side affects that people with RA are already at a heightened risk for due to the disease.

Aggressive JRA needs aggressive treatment options or your child may very well end up with physical disfigurement at an early age. Not to mention it can provide relief and let them live somewhat of a normalish life again. I took Enbrel when it was new on the market and it provided me over 10 years of relief and allowed me to function and do most things with little pain. I was scared to death to take it at the time but I am so grateful for the treatment options we have today. My father had RA as well and he never had the options we do today. He suffered for many years with it.

I am so sorry you and your child are having to go through this. I hope that your daughter is able to find relief soon.
Posted 9/24/2015 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you so much for responding! Your words are very encouraging and we did our first dose last night! So far even the injection site is looking normal! Thank you again; and May God Bless You and your Family! Always!
KathyN
Posted 9/25/2015 11:35 AM (GMT 0)
You too Kathy, and he has blessed us all :) I pray that your daughter finds some relief. Some of these meds take time to take effect and other times they can be more sudden and dramatic. I experienced this with Enbrel. I hope that this is the case for you as well.

-Don
Posted 9/27/2015 4:58 AM (GMT 0)
Kathy,
I have had the same experience with humira and enbril as Don. Please keep us posted on how your daughter is doing. It is heartbreaking to hear that your daughter has so many health challenges at such a young age, and I hope the hu mira works for her for a very long time.
Beth
Posted 10/10/2015 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I also have JRA or as it is now known, JIA as well as reactive airway disease (basically really bad asthma). I was put on Humira in June and so far have had no problems with it. It seems to react to people differently as I have heard of it being a miracle drug but all it does for me is take a bit of the edge off the pain. Humira has not irritated my asthma at all so far. I was diagnosed at a year and a half old and now being 24 I know how hard it is to grow up with this condition. I do not know your location but when I was younger I went to a hospital sponsored summer camp for kids with JRA where there were medical teams on staff and it was so great to just be a kid. Just an idea if that is your kind of thing ;} It was called Camp DH or Camp Dartmouth-Hitchcock. I hope this is helpful.
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