ACTHAR

Micflores4

New Member

Joined : Dec 2016

Posts : 2

Posted 12/16/2016 5:44 AM (GMT 0)

I will be starting a new drug next week .....acthar? Has anyone taken these home injections? Any success? Side effects? Complaints? Praises?

Butterflake

Veteran Member

Joined : Jun 2006

Posts : 1650

Posted 12/21/2016 6:01 AM (GMT 0)

Welcome to our forum micflores4. I've never taken ACTH, but I looked it up and found that it stimulates the release of cortisol and another steroid. These are supposed to reduce inflammation. I thought it was interesting that the medication ACTHAR is derived from highly purified pig adrenal glands. Anyway the way I understood it was that ACTHAR is basically the ACTH that your body produces, but it is supposed to dramatically increase the cortisol production in your body. I'm betting that you already know this and since I've never taken it I'm really no help. I hope someone comes along who has taken it and can help you. I hope your injections go very well

memmy29

New Member

Joined : Feb 2014

Posts : 8

Posted 1/5/2017 1:30 PM (GMT 0)

I just started Acthar for joint pain associated with Crohn's disease. I was not responding well to 40 mg of prednisone so my Rheumatologist started me on it. All I know is that it's extremely expensive. I am taking one 80 mg shot per week. So far so good, but in addition to weaning off the prednisone I have a huge moon face and swollen neck. Not sure if Acthar is contributing to this but I've never had this much fluid retention on prednisone alone. I think it's helping with the joint pain, as I'm weaning off pred and feeling pretty good. Good luck.

Bsime

Veteran Member

Joined : Apr 2006

Posts : 1351

Posted 1/8/2017 4:40 AM (GMT 0)

Acthar makes your body produce more cortisol rather than taking prednisone which is the synthetic. It has been around but not widely used for 50 years. It does seem to work for some but not others like all treatments. It was very cheap until 2 different companies bought the rights to make it and raised the price a few years ago.

https://www.actharrheumatology.com/

https://myositisco.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/something-old-something-new-a-brief-history-of-acthar/

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