How do you know when Humira is no longer working?

So last fall I was officially prescribed Humira. I tell you for first several months it was the wonder drug. To put it simply, I had my life back. It took care of a fistula that I had and calmed the inflammation in my gut. My menu increased dramatically and I was happy to oblige.

With in the last couple months I've noticed the occasional bloating when larger meals are eaten. I've also had D on a regular basis. I suspect that either the inflammation is back or I've got some blockage due to scar material. Initially the Humira took care of this but now I think it's back.

Last Friday I actually had a fever with severe chills kick in. It dissipated by the next day but it was pretty debilitating for about 24 hours. Last night I had night sweats to an extreme.

Needless to say I've got an appointment for  CT Enterography and C DIFF and eventually a scope. Fun Stuff.

I have to say that my gut does feel inflammed but it's not like the medicine has totally run it's course because I would be doubled over in pain.

Before the fever the doctor was considering upping the dosage since I only take 1 shot every other week. If the fever has something to do with my body fighting the Humira I don't see why it would be good to increase the dosage.

Just wondering what everyone else's thoughts were on whether the Humira was losing it's effectiveness or whether my body was finally identifying the Humira as a foreign agent and creating antibodies.

The good thing is that I still eat a fairly decent list of plain items...before Humira I was allocated to tunafish and soup. 

No more tacos.

Thanks for your input.

JAB 

Every week here, maybe 2-3 weeks now at this dose, started in Aug 2009.

Thank all for the response. Rider I'm under the impression that you are weekly as well? I think I've heard, more then not, that people tend to find remission with weekly shots as opposed to the bi-weekly.  I hope that this is just the case. I didn't know that there was an issue with getting covered for weekly shots. My doctor indicated that we might up the doseage to weekly which sounds like he has done it before in other cases. Hmmmmm.

Homeboy, what happened that the increased dosage was deemed necessary?

Thanks again for any insight.

JAB

Post Edited (JAB) : 5/24/2010 1:52:59 PM (GMT-6)

I get Humira directly from the company, all my g.i had to do was write me a prescription for once a week, and I faxed that to the folks at Humira.  The next week, fedex showed up with my shipment.