Humira: six weeks in

Well, I'm six weeks in to being on Humira and I'm noticing improvements. I'm going less x's a day and starting to have more formed bm's. It's not perfect everyday but I think I'm going in the right direction. I've actually had a few nights of sleeping a few hours straight without having to get up to use the bathroom. That has not happened for me in a long time.

There's been some bumps in the road though. For a few days I was passing a horrific amount of gas. Uh yeah, I've been burned by not doing that over toilet, so while I was going actual stool less, I was on toilet a lot from the gas. Just when I was going to contact GI, it seemed to subside. I eliminated every little thing that could have been causing it, so don't know if it's that or the Humira kicking in more.

Around the time I started the Humira, I started having major hot flashes but given my age, 51, I'm attributing that to menopause, not the Humira. I had a period at end of April, haven't had one since. I'm not sorry, as that aggravates my UC.

As for side effects, I had a fever after the 2 pen dose from my starter pack and now I'm nursing a head cold, ugh. I don't know if those count as side effects but as far as anything else, not yet.

It's not perfect, I'm going between, very formed bm's, to sorta formed, and still sometimes diarrhea but the urgency and frequency has improved. I know how Humira works but I never thought about longevity, from dose to dose. Humira being a hella expensive drug, I'm sure docs don't increase the dose wily nilly. I dunno, I just hope I continue to improve.

I was so afraid of this drug and now I'm like a freak'n junkie waiting for the next fix, lol. I'm glad I got over the fear though, especially if I have a fighting chance to put this wretched disease in remission.

Glad you're improving, we all know how horrible flares are first-hand. Having an initial response is very encouraging, internal healing does take time so I'd give it longer. Humira dose can be adjusted, if necessary.

Overconfidence can get us when we're healing (over trusting a fart is a great example). Increased gas as we heal is quite common. I found that gas to be quite amusing, my spouse less so (as she was a frequent victim).

Thanks for the all the encouragement! I'm trying not to get overconfident, taking it a day at a time.

@ipoop, I wonder about my insurance and whether they would allow increased dosages for my Humira. I'm in Oreogon with Kaiser insurance, a big HMO and as HMO's are, they will cut costs where they can. I wonder if they leave it up to my doctor to decide if I need to increase my dosage. Not to get in to that whole controversy but as we all know, insurance companies a lot of times make decisions based on cost, not patient need.😡

My hubs is no innocent when it comes to passing gas. I walked away from him at Costco the other day, like I didn't know him. 😩😄