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Humira and Simponi

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Posted 1/24/2010 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
My Doctor has given me pamplets on both of these and I am confused ? I assume these are two toally different medicines , not sure if I will take them both or not ? I am going Monday for a TB test before I can start either one of them. All this new medicine has got me a bit overwhelmed.. Can anyone give me any insight on this and also, I have a pamplet on Humira Protection plan, I have Insurance with a co-pay, is this something I can benefit from using ? Sorry to ask so many questions at once, but I have nobody to ask,,Thanks for any help or advise !! smile
Posted 1/24/2010 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
Both are similar in that they are fully humanized TNFa blockers. I am currently on remicade, which is also a TNF blocker, but has a mouse protein (so it is not fully humanized). The biggest difference between the two (and there isn't really as far as the pharmokinetics are concerned) is that Humira is made by Abbott and has been in use longer than Simponi, which is marketed by Centocor. Remicade is also made by Centocor.

The TB test is done so that a latent TB infection does not become active, which is a risk when using the TNF blockers.

Good Luck!
Posted 1/26/2010 8:48 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Aunt, by all means use your card given to you for the Humira. In my case they pay my $70 copay for my Humira and that helps me out a lot. I recently was given another card for one of my crohns meds and I will be getting it activated tomorrow too. We need all the help we can get. Take care.
Posted 2/4/2010 10:38 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all so much !  I did activate the Humira card, I am waiting for my Insurance company to approve, they are fighting this every step of the way. I started my first Humira shot at the Doctor's office and I feel great.   I seriously thought I had the Swine Flu , I had felt bad for at least 1 month  !!  My Doctor explained it was the Arthritis flaring up. I am back at the gym going strong !!!   Hopefully they will approve and we can get in a routine, not sure I can give myself these shots, wow, they really HURT !!!  Thanks again... 
Posted 3/8/2010 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
When all the dust settled ,I have to pay $5 every 3 months for my Humira. I gave myself my first shot , I did everything correct but I forgot to sterlize with alcohol. I let the medicine get to room temp and iced my leg but it still hurt..I hope to not stay on this too long, lease amount of medicine, the better I will feel !
Posted 3/8/2010 6:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Aunt Bre,

I bet it hurt on your leg. I have had 3 Humira shots. After letting it sit to room temperature, my doctor gave me the first one in my arm and my hubbie watched. It hurt only for the few seconds of injection, but not at all afterward, no site pain, nothing. I will never give myself an injection in my stomach or leg like the video says. If you can get a willing person to do it for you, try it in your arm. Just have them pull up a little of the fat on back of your arm below your shoulder, and alternate arms each time. Maybe it will hurt less for you.

Newbie
On the pier
Posted 3/20/2010 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
I didn't realize you could take the shot in your arm, I will have to try it !!  Thank Goodness it is only every 2 weeks !!!  Thanks for the advise !!
Posted 7/21/2010 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
I have been on Humira since January, the last few months I have started to feel so tired. really, really tired and some days I am nauseated. I am beginning to think this is a side effect of the Humira. I am thinking of maybe skipping my next dose to see if I start to feel stronger. I work out at the gym and walk but it has been a effort these last few months. Anybody else had this problem ?
Posted 9/30/2010 3:15 AM (GMT 0)

Hi all

I'm 37 and have had chronic Plaque Psoriasis for about a year. It's covering most of my body (except the head thankfully). In April this year my doc suggested going on Humira. I went through the normal blood tests and TB x-ray which showed all clear. So on with the meds. I've been lucky that I have a high tolerance for pain so the injections don't hurt. Since then the psoriasis has calmed a lot and quite a bit has faded or disappeared completely :-) .

All was good until last week. A couple of days before my injection I noticed that I was having some strange feelings in my left leg and foot. I was stumbling a bit when I walked and nearly fell a few times. I didn't really think of Humira causing any problems so I didn't bother doing anything about it. But as the last weekend passed I found that my left foot was tingling a lot - sort of like mild pins and needles. So on Monday I went to my gp.....a locum as it turned out. She checked the details on Humira and found that there were reported neurological problems. She did a quite thorough neurological/balance test on me and said that she would call my psoriasis doc. Since then I've noticed other small things like minor loss of sensation on the skin of my left shoulderblade and left armpit (actually discovered when spraying on some deodarant lol) and on my left bum cheek wink

Since then I've made another appointment with the gp so gonna see what she says. Fingers crossed it's nothing big but from all the research I've done in the last few days I'd say it's probabaly all down to Humira. The appointment is in about 6 hours so send me good vibes :-)

Posted 1/28/2011 10:42 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on Humira for over a year and I have not had any problems.
Posted 1/29/2011 3:44 AM (GMT 0)
Since my last post I've met quite a few people (locally - living in a tiny area) who has been using Humira for at least a couple of years - and not one of them had a bad thing to say about it. I am just one of those unlucky ones - 1 in 800,000 (direct from Humira!) that developed a demyelinating disease. Gonna have to be careful for the rest of my life handling hot things. Can feel a saucepan but dont know that it is really hot. Have burned my foot and hand already thanks to it!

Spoke to my GP about this - she has seen these symptoms from lots of meds, and the results from some were very bad. Some people put a foot into a bath of water and didn't realise that it was burning hot and then sat down into it!!! OWWWWWW!!!! As I said, I only burned my hand and foot - but imagine putting "other" parts of your body into boiling water!

Anyway, don't worry about using Humira - for the majority of people, it either works or it doesn't. Have a good friend with Crohns that was put on Humira. This guy is in his 30's. Has had Crohns since his teens. It worked for a few months but had to change cos it stopped working. He went through a lot of TNF inhibitors before he found one that worked. But since he started on the current one - Infliximab (Remicade) he went from a tiny skinny person who was in and out of hospital for bowel re-sections and having to wear a bag to a guy needing to lose weight. So dont worry if you have a good doctor that is willing to try different medications. One of them are going to work.

As an aside to the previous paragraph. I also suffer from bi-polar depression. I spent about 3 years switching meds to find the correct combination of anti-depressants and mood stabilizers and the doseages.

Sorry about the really long post - a lot of it was just venting lol.

Take care and keep the head up

John

PS - am now on 50mg Enbrel weekly for the psoriasis and it seems to be working with no side-effects :)

Post Edited (FanadMan) : 1/28/2011 8:55:40 PM (GMT-7)

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