Failing humira? Or just a bump in the road?

A few thoughts, but you'll be sure to get far better advice from some of the more veteran members:

1) Have your doctor order an adalimumab concentration and antibody test (LabCorp)
2) Apriso is meant to be taken WHILE on remission, why your doctor pulled you off it is a mystery.
3) For a lot of folks, Turmeric thins out the blood too much and can worsen things up.
4) If it turns out you've failed Humira then Remicade isn't the better option; however it is an opportunity for you to move on to Entyvio? (Usually insurance companies like to wait till humor fails to approve it)
5) Consider moving to a less systemic corticosteroid like Uceris (budesonide) instead of prednisone for the next few months

Good luck!

I think things could go either way for you. You may just stabilize in the coming weeks while staying on your meds or you could go into an all out flare. Are you going to have a scope to follow up on how you are doing off of the prednisone? We would all do absolutely anything to get rid of this horrible disease. You are not alone that's for sure. Question for you: Does Lexapro help you?

You've got to be off of pred and stable for 2-months to truly be safe. Untreated inflammation slowly builds up and might take that long to manifest itself as symptoms.

Remind us what medications and dosages your on again?

Adding immunomodulators (azathioprine/imuran or 6mp) might be worth considering, if needed. Maybe the extra added boost humira might need to cross the finish line into a remission. Always an option to try, before changing biologics...

I have my bridal shower in 2 weeks, I hope things turn around. Life is pretty tough right now.

If nothing else, there's always Uceris-oral, or steroid enemas or steroid foams to get us by when struggling. I hear you, the not-knowing is what kills us. Ultimately we make our best, educated guesses that are supported by test results (when possible), cross our fingers and hope for the best. Unfortunately, nothing is infallible or fool-proof, and we might need a "plan B." There's always a bit of trial-and-error in it all.

Options discussed thus far:

1.) Imuran will take 3-months to make noticeable differences, if you started it today.

2.) An increase in Humira dosage might take a series of weeks to take affect (2-5 weeks).

3.) Steroids will kick in within a week's time or less. If you choose the 90%-topical varieties then the odds are it will not make you totally crazy. For oral administration that would be Uceris/Entocort EC/Clipper/Budesonide. For Rectal-route that'd be Steroid (Budesonide/Hydrocortisone) enemas, suppositories, or foams (Uceris foam, Colifoam). A temporary bandaid while you try the other above mentioned things, cross your fingers, taper off and hope the new solution is sufficient.

4.) Switch biologics a process that can take a series of months to produce measurable results. They'd likely put you on prednisone while stopping humira and going through the new biologic's loading dosages.

I'd lay your options infront of you, give it some thought, talk them over with your gasteroenteroligist and see what you both decide is the best course of action for your current symptoms.

Post Edited (iPoop) : 9/10/2018 1:06:15 PM (GMT-6)

You could. Methotrexate is often beneficial in that it works a LOT faster than imuran/azathioprine/6mp. You can get methotrexate via IV or pills and the response is within weeks or less. Our crohn's friends often use methotrexate, and there is a lot of research backing it for use of that illness. However, the clinical evidence for usage of methotrexate with UC is very lacking and spotty. Given UC and crohn's are sister diseases, so it is not much of a stretch to expect methotrexate to work as well as imuran for us. Over the years there's been a few UC patients on methotrexate here, but not many. You can certainly make a case for it with your gasteroenteroligist (works faster, works well for crohn's and should with UC, give it a month as a trial and see if it helps?). I wouldn't at all be surprised if your doctor and/or insurance gives you a bit of guff as "not officially approved for the treatment of UC" has a bit of staying power.

Oral uceris if good for mild to slightly moderate inflammation. If you feel your inflammation levels fit that description then it would be a good match. If you're severely inflamed (6 plus bms a day) then uceris is like a sparrow's fart against an oncoming hurricane; useless (and only pred can tackle that monster). So it's a matter of being appropriate to your current symptoms (2-4 bms a day is likely the best candidate for uceris, with most promising results likely). If you're 6 or less bms a day then I'd at least give uceris a shot. I'd wager you are at the moment as humira is taking at least some of that slack...

Post Edited (iPoop) : 9/11/2018 6:50:00 AM (GMT-6)