GI bug hell

I had to miss my last dose of Humira last week because I had a GI bug. It turns out I came back positive for BOTH cdiff and a parasite called cryptosporidium !!! Gross. The health dept called me to track the source it may be from my sons school or a well water pool of my friends I had swam in. I'm on day 5 of flagyl and Vanc and always very nauseated from the flagyl (taking Zofran for it but I hate flagyl). Other than feeling like a freaking public toilet I'm now concerned my IBD symptoms are also starting to come back. Ugh. I don't want to take Humira while I've got all these bugs. Anyone deal w this ? How long do you hold off? Also are the GI bugs a common side effect of being on it since immune system is down or do I just have tremendous luck? I hate this !!!!

We're more prone to GI bugs and cdiff as uc patients and the odds increase even more with immunomodulators and biologics because the immune system is slightly surpressed.

How long can I delay my medication is a good question for your gastroenterologist. The true answer really depends on your humira serum trough (minimum) levels. If you're currently at very high humira serum levels then you could go longer, but if you just barely make it from infusion-to-infusion then you're fanning the flames and tempting fate. If it was me, I'd put off only a few days as not to risk a uc flare. Humira has frequent dosing, so delaying a week might be pretty bad news.

Poor you! We had a terrible GI bug in my house this Spring and it has only been in the past 3 weeks that I have really felt "normal" again. Hang in there!