I finally heard back from the powers that be, and, long story short, I start my Humira injections Monday! I'm so excited! I have RA, psoriasis, and "probably" psoriatic arthritis as well, so I'm really, really hopeful about this treatment. The Mtx alone, with my trusty Darvocet 2 to 3 times a day, just hasn't been cutting it.
I even ended up skipping my Mtx this past week in order to battle a bad head cold (doctor told me to), and today I'm hurting BAD. The Darvocet I took 2 hours ago just hasn't done the job. But I'm back on Mtx tomorrow, so hopefully this bad bout of pain will be helped. And Monday I start my Humira... I can't wait! Rheumy said that if, after 3 months, I'm seeing great results, I may even be able to discontinue the Mtx!
Just had to share. I'm really excited and hopeful about the Humira injections. I'd cross my fingers for good results if it didn't hurt so danged much to try to cross them!
That's great news!! Good for you jodi.
I would warn against being too quick to stop your MTX though. As much as I love my Humira; MTX is doing a good bit of the heavy lifting. I've been on Humira weekly for 2 years now. I've only been able to go down 5mg in my MTX so far. Going down anymore than that would ruin all the hard work I've gone through to get here.
Just take it one day at a time.
Congrats Jodi. Hope it works like a charm. YAY!! Congrats!! I hope that it works well for you. As Lovie said, don't be too quick to get off the mtx. I do both humira and mtx and love the combination. It has really worked well for me. I always hate it when I hear that a doctor has taken someone off of something too quickly once it's started to work. Give us a chance to enjoy the relief!!Wonderful news. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that it works (and quickly) for you. Hugs and good vibes.Thanks, Dears, for the nice notes and well-wishes... and for the advice about not stopping the Mtx. Honestly, I was initially hoping to DC the Mtx eventually just because of the lethargy it causes me, but you know, not taking it this past week due to the head cold, I have really had a chance to be reminded just how bad my pain was before I started on it. Until now, I think I hadn't really realized just how much it does help me. But I've been revisiting the old level of pain the past couple of days, and it's awful!
The Mtx makes me awfully sleepy, especially 2 days after the weekly dose. But if I could even just reduce the dosage eventually, maybe down from the current 15 mg to 10, I bet that would indeed help with the fatigue. I'll talk to rheumy about that. No hurry anyway... he said I needed to be on the Humira for 3 months before we'd really consider whether we could stop the Mtx anyway. So maybe just reducing the dose will be the way to go... thank you so much for that suggestion and advice!!!
Hugs!
Not sure how long you've been on MTX but after a while your body adjust to it and you won't be as tired. Once I started taking Humira that helped a lot too.
Good Luck!