Hi! I am on Humira weekly and am on my 6th shot . Once the medication kicked in after a couple of shots, I seem to have a flare (injections on Tuesdays) every Monday and/or Tuesday. So, it seems to be wearing off early. I'm also on Arava and can't seem to dose down on Pred because I keep flaring up weekly. I was on Enbrel until 6 weeks ago after being on it nearly 4 years and it sort of lost its effectiveness but I didn't have flares nearly as often - I just felt like crap most of the time. On Humira, I have a flare on Monday and Tuesday, recover Wednesday, and then feel fantastic the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I don't know what's better. If I didn't have three young children (9,7,4)to keep up with, I could probably hendle a flare for a couple of days a week but I do, so not being able to get out of bed is not an option. My kids are great - very understanding and my husband (being a fix-it man!) is so angry and frustrated because he can't fix this... I have an appointment with my RD on 10/12, so I'll visit with him and see what we can do. Is it possible to take Humira more often than once a week? I took MTX by mouth and injection a couple of years ago but the mouth sores were so bad, I had to quit. Any answers or sympathy would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
Lisa
Humira, Arava, Napralean, Prednisone.
P.s. I hate this disease!!!
i'm having the same problem and i have 4 kids, 10,7,4,2 so i truly know what you mean. my husband is being so strong and supportive but i wish there was a way to conquer this thing.
i take humira bi-weekly but thought of going weekly to help me. i dont know of anyone who takes humira more than once a week but ask your dr all you can and please keep us updated.
good luck
when you were on mtx were you taking folic acid? i had the same problems and then i started taking the folic acid again and the side affects went away. Im starting my humira on friday, so im not much help there. Have you gone to the new site yet? www.rafriends.com you might want to post this over there too. Hope the drs appt goes well. As Lisa said, keep us posted.Obviously I'm no help to you at all...but I do offer my sympathy.
I'd also like to Welcome you. We'd love for you to stick around. Certainly sounds as if you have a lot in common with this group.
(OH: I can post the new smilies here....but not at RAF. What's up with that?)
If you want too chat in PM I would be very interested in the exact way to get the insurance to understand I NEED Humira more than every 2 weeks.
Kathy, The dr. just wrote the script and I took it to the pharmacy and they filled it - no questions asked and insurance is paying for it - maybe because I was on the weekly Enbrel shots immediately prior. At my pharmacy they put on there what each drug would cost without insurance - Humira would cost 99.00 - that's American dollars - not pesos!!!! My husbands company is self insured - they pay for the scripts and doctors visits rather than an outside company. Everytime I see someone from the finance department, they always ask how I'm feeling and if my medicine is working. I always say it's great - if they ever thought it wasn't working, they might refuse to pay!!! EEEK!
As bad as things are while I'm on medication - I can't imagine what life would be like without it! Would it be life at all?
Good luck with your insurance - what if you had the dr. write an explanation to them? Just a thought. Thanks!! Lisa
Kathy~I was on MTX for more than 2 years before Humira. I then did Humira bi-weekly for around 6 months before switiching to Weekly. I have never had any contact what so ever with the insurance company. My doctor did it all. The first time; and when we increased it.
I'm not sure if me being on it for 6 months with minimal results made a difference or not; but it might have.
How long have you been on it bi-weekly? It took about 3 months for that to make much of a difference for me.....and then it never lasted 14 days. Weekly has made a big difference. I hope you can get it worked out.
I'm in a study for humira, but when I got the script from my RD, I took it to my pharmacy and they filled it ...it was supposed to go on my study insurance, but they put it on my united healthcare by mistake. I had them take it off UHC and put it on the right one...but I had no problem getting the script filled, but will be going mail order. I was surprised it was that easy! All that stress worrying about approval for nothing