Humira and me...

It is nearly a week since taking my first dose (4 pens) of Humira. This past week has been mixed in terms of how I've felt and what my ulcer has been doing. In general, not a good week. I don't think it is because of Humira or its lack of working-- just one of those weeks where things didn't go well with this defective organ.

Today I spent the day in bed, reading. To help move along the process, I was on teva Mesalamine suspension enemas pretty much on a constant basis. If I had to get rid of the medicine, I would take another one, under the advisement of my doctor. In the past, I have responded well with these things and the pain and gas and mucus has been just insane that I chose to just stay in bed and take the medicine. Its just past 1700 on Friday and frankly, I feel pretty good. No pain or gas, but i'm not surprised when you have a colon full of medicine! I'm SO thankful to have this medicine.

I learned long ago not to wish away time so I'll be patient but I can't lie and I have to say I'm looking forward to shooting up next Saturday so that I can keep up the fight.

Another reason I spent the day in bed reading is that I've been struggling to keep my wits about me. I get really down on some days and though it would feel great just to cry and freak out, for some reason, I haven't the ability. Maybe I'm trying to be all macho but I assure you, I want to get out the emotion. But much like my colon, there are many times when I'm emotionally constipated! So it was VERY nice to be in someone elses world for the day. I'm currently finishing up "Son of a Witch" by Greg Maguire, the author of "Wicked." Very good books-- very dark, though, too-- and should NOT be read to children, unless you like answering lots of embarrassing and dark questions.

That is all for now-- your Humira-shooting, mesalamine-lovin' friend...

If you have to rely on something else medicine wise while waiting for results from Humira, maybe your doctor will keep you on 2 shots for a while. My doctor did that and it helped. I just went down to 1 shot every 2 weeks, and my new GI switched me off my Imuran, so far so good. Just a suggestion though. But an idea.

Hi all--

It is Wednesday, Jan 21st and I'm now only three days away from taking my second dose of Humira. So far this week, I have had some issues with a lot of gas and frequent trips to the bathroom (still have mucus and I can't trust the gas!). Some things of note, however, is the urgency isn't as bad. If I have to use the bathroom it isn't like I go into a full run to the bathroom like I use to. Also of note is that I'm experiencing a decrease in blood in both the mucus and stool.

I would also like to mention that I have been using suspension enemas to help force the condition into remission and give the Humira a helping hand ;o) I've also been using suppositories during the day as they do not cause me to have to rush to the bathroom like the enemas do at times.

My next injection is made of two pens this Saturday.

Day after my second injection. No signs of bruising or soreness are apparent at the injection sites.

Most of the time I've been very careful to take note of the different symptoms I have on a daily basis from the UC and try to see if they differ from day-to-day. One of those symptoms that is always LAST to occur on the tide of an impending flare is bleeding. First is mucus followed by cramping. Today I have some cramping and the mucus is minimal (mostly because of the rowasa-- that stuff clears me out pretty well the morning after). But for the first time in a while, I have not witnessed any blood in any of the usual places. I also haven't had a red-out (what I call it when you use the toilet and bleed enough to pain the bowl red) in a while now, though I have witnessed some of those clots and blood in the stool and on paper. But this past week I've had less and less and finally today I have not see any.

I can't say which is really helping-- the rowasa/canasa or the Humira kicking in-- either way I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel! The key at this point, I think, is a light diet of foods I know will not cause issue and not pushing no matter how much my system wants to during my time in the office (aka the bathroom).

I'm going for a bikeride today. Its cold but I don't care!

hey, glad to hear things are going alright for you- it seems like slowly you are seeing improvement. Slowly..... !!!!! Please keep posting- I'm pretty sure Remicade is losing it's oomph for me, so I plan to talk about switching to Humira when I see my GI next, at the end of the month. So I love to hear how other UC'ers are doing with Humira.

Now why are you unable to fly currently? Were you on a med that wasn't FAA approved? And you have a UC diagnosis, right? I wonder how your GI got it thru your insurance company... I too like the fact that Humira is all human proteins- the mouse part of Remicade sort of freaks me out! No wonder your body tries to fight it, ya know? The thing that scares me about trying it is if it doesn't work, there's no more meds to go to- that's, all, folks! What about you, if Humira does not prove to be successful for you, what then? Although I'll cross my fingers that it does work well for you! It would seem to me, that in your case, if you had surgery then any health issues that may be keeping you grounded would disappear for good.

supersaw---

The injections are waaaaay easy to take!!!! I numb the area with a little ice pack clean it with the alcohol swabs and inject. The sound of the pen going off isn't very loud at all and the meds are in well under 10 seconds. Compared to a normal "shot"-- these pens are much less painful.

Supersaw,

Have u gone to Humira.com and looked for the video there? On that site, it explains it to a "T."

Glad to hear ur doing better. OT.... on another post you dais you were from hershey living in denver area.... I have a branch of the family that moved from clarion Pa, to hershey area, then to loveland Col.? which i think is near denver. Any chance we are related? Can't remember right now the last name of the that branch. WOuld go back to carnathan, i think. They are my mom's uncle and aunt. We just always called them Aunt Betty ( she was a carnathan ) And Uncle peck. Just curious if those two were relatives of yours as well as mine. Sorry to go off topic on ya. Really glad ya are doing better.

Unclebubba--

Nope-- not related. I moved from Hershey when I became an officer for the USAF. Moved all over God's green earth but then settled in my wife's hometown, that being Denver.

Sweetpea-- if you watch any tv-- especially during primetime, you will see loads of adverts for Humira. Humira is a drug that targets your immune system-- and a awry immune system can cause all sorts of funky things-- UC, psoriasis, arthitis, Crohns etc. I imagine even more adverts will come out as they find new things Humira can help. I'm surprised they haven't come out with w/ a UC commercial yet.

do I have to be 100% normal before I stop trying?

after 2 yrs on remicade, it failed about 4 months ago, then we tried to increase dose, decrease interval between doses, etc no help.
loose, frequent stools, sometimes black. waking up in the night to go, no control with lomotil and imodium.

so, i started humira 4 weeks ago, and right away - no getting up in the night (yeah!) a little more control, but still very loose (sometimes pure water) and some days, still less control and increased frequency.

I will see my GI in a few weeks and seriously, I am not satisfied, but a) should I wait longer for full humira effect? and b) should I just count myself lucky
when the remicade was working, I was doing better than I am now... but again, how long after starting humira will I see the full effect? I am definitely better than I was 5 weeks ago, but am not satisfied.

by the way - sometimes humira injection hurts, but it is so quick, I prefer it to a whole morning waiting for remicade to be infused.

Just a small update but I am told by my doctor to inject one pen of Humira every week until I feel 100% and then a few weeks beyond that.

Over all health is still very good (blood pressure is low but a good low, heart rate is a staggering 39bpm, and I continue both my weight and cardio training though running still causes a lot of pain around the area of my ulcer-- so no running marathons!), and even my UC seems to be abating somewhat more-- slowly but surely.

I continue rowasa nightly, canasa during the day and 3 pills of Lialda daily. I'm kicking @ss!!!!!!

Don't taper too fast.  You don't want to jinx anything! :)  Keeping my fingers crossed for you.