Questions for the ladies...Help!

Hi LisaLee, I tried to google but didn't find a whole lot actually about Humira with evening of primrose, just a link...

http://www.ehealthme.com/drug-interactions/humira-and-evening-primrose-oil

saying this...

"Review: taking Evening Primrose Oil and Humira together

Summary: drug interactions are reported among people who take Evening Primrose Oil and Humira together. This review analyzes the effectiveness and drug interactions between Evening Primrose Oil and Humira. It is created by eHealthMe based on reports of 34 people who take the same drugs from FDA and social media, and is updated regularly."

I'm worried about perimenopause as well and also on Humira so I hope you have better luck finding out some concrete info.

imagardener,

Did you find that it was after you finally hit menopause (not perimenopause) that your UC went into remission and stayed so far? I"ve hard about IBD burn out and was wondering if maybe being in menopause might have anything to do with it, then again I know that many women get IBD well after menopause too, but I was just wondering if for those of us that got IBD younger if maybe menopause plays a roll in keeping IBD in remission/causing IBD burn out.

I'm hoping for menopause just to see if my guts will finally smarten up for good, although my Crohn's colitis is in remission I'm still dealing with IBS-C so I don't know if that might make a difference in my case, I hate the thought of wanting to be in menopause just have my guts straighten out but obviously I'm hoping it will be the case since I'm not getting any younger lol.

Yes, I've heard of those as well Michelejc, but I wonder if either of those along with the above that Lisa was asking about, have any interactions with Humira specifically.

I've had heart palpitations since I was in my early 20's, my GP told me everyone gets them but not everyone gets the symptoms from them like I do, which is feeling dizzy, not being able to catch my breath, and a pain that starts in the back of my neck and radiates up into my skull (like a headache pain) an my heart pumping super fast you can see my chest moving rapidly, he offered to give me pills for those symptoms but I said no cuz he said there were possible side effects to them so I learned to do this deep breathing thing where I take as deep a breath that I can take and slowly exhale and doing that usually 3 times slows my heart back down and then shortly after all my other symptoms go away. There's some medical term for it but I can't remember what's it's called.

pb4

Peri-meno and UC arrived almost simultaneously and many times I didn't know what was causing what. No, menopause did not bring an end to UC symptoms just menopause symptoms ended. UC has been much more difficult to tame. Menopause is lovely IMO.

I had heart issues pre-menopause and post, fluttering and arrhythmia but since UC diet mod. all heart issues disappeared. My diet was healthy back then but even healthier now. Did certain foods/drinks cause heart flutter? dunno.

PS I just read back that I said I didn't have heart palpitations due to menopause. I had documented (doctors office cardiogram) of uneven heart rate that was pre-menopause age 32, this came and went. So maybe that is palpitations, just not meno-related.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 6/22/2015 4:03:57 PM (GMT-6)

Are you 100% sure it's perimenopause? Humira cause hot flashes, as can many other medications. I'm a young man and prednisone gives me hot flashes, as well as night sweats. The only way to know for sure is to get a hormone panel done, with blood work. So I hope your doctor isn't just assuming.

The hormone panel can also reveal the precise imbalance, if it is peri-menopause. If you find out the ratio of the imbalance (estrogen:progesterone), your doctor can write a prescription for a bio-identical hormone cream which you rub on the inside of your arm once a day. You'd get it made at a compounding pharmacy. Most doctors don't know how to do this, but if you have one who does, it would really ease your way through peri-menopause. As for the birth control pill... that's their default "treatment" for all gynecology disorders. Got really painful periods? The pill. Too much bleeding? Pill. Ovarian cyst or fibroid? Pill. It's unfortunate.

If your doc won't do bio-identicals or you just don't want to, there are good herbal solutions too...

If estrogen is low, take dong kuai (angelica chinensis). If it's progesterone, take chasteberry (vitex). These address the underlying cause of hot flashes. If both are low, you can try both. They are gentle enough that you can experiment with the quantities you need.

For the symptom of hot flashes that you're describing, black cohosh root (actaea racemosa) is awesome. For heart palps, definitely look into magnesium. If you can't take it orally because of your UC, then look into topical magnesium that you rub on your skin.

A good bedtime beverage for hot flashes and menopausal insomnia is sage tea (salvia officinalis). That's right, cooking sage. Fresh from the garden is best but dried will do. Just make sure it's organic, because a lot of cooking spices are irradiated with spent nuclear fuel so that they never rot for decades, and are thus devoid of medicinal properties. Just steep it as a tea and drink. Some women turn it into iced tea and have that if they wake up with hot flashes, or anytime really. Tends to fix the problem right away.

None of these should conflict with your medications, especially the black cohosh and sage tea, but start small and work your way up, as with anything.

^ Bio-identicals are dangerous until menopause is complete? I've never heard of that, and I've worked with many colleagues who prescribe it at all stages. The whole point is to take them when you have symptoms of menopause. I don't personally prescribe bio-identicals, but in my locality, both MDs and NDs (naturopaths) can do it, and I've met patients who have been taking them the first sign of peri-menopause. Anyway, it's totally your call and I'm not trying to pressure you. I've just never heard that it's dangerous. Hormone imbalance is hormone imbalance. They're safe from age 35 onward, and the FDA has approved them.

Good that you discovered your heart has a mechanical issue, not just something hormonal / vitamin related. I will say though that the first line of therapy of heart palps, especially if they're worse than normal, is nutrition and vitamin/mineral supplementation. Calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. If those are balanced and the heart palps are still crazy, then it's probably hormones.

Sounds like you are taking all sensible precautions. Good luck :)

^ It's actually the synthetic hormones which show increased cancer rates, not the bio-identicals... at least, from all the research I've read. It's the main reason why women opt for them. Mind you, using any hormone therapy in general can theoretically cause cancer, because you're stimulating reproductive tissues beyond their normal shelf life. But.. I have not read any conclusive studies linking BIH therapy to cancer. Even the American Cancer Society says so.

You're welcome :)