Last year when I was on Humira I was getting the pre filled syringes and being a nurse I felt relatively comfortable giving myself the injections. After a break from Humira to try Remicade I am back on Humira, but this time was sent the Humira Pen. I was skeptical at first. My experience with these types of devices when used on patients was not a good one. There were always defects of one sort or another. But I have to say...WOW!
The Humira pen has been great. I havent been getting site reactions and the medicine doesnt burn as much going in. I havent had any problems with the pen itself, it works well and delivers the entire dose quickly and easily.
For anyone considering starting Humira, I think that you will be pleased with delivery system of the pen. I know there arent any guarantees on how well the drug itself will actually work on each individual, but at least they are making it easier to self inject for the patients.
YAY US....it's always a great thing when "they" get something right! I love my humira pens. I also found that injecting in the arm for some reason does not burn as much as injecting in the thigh.
I haben't had any problems with my pens either. Always have worked for me and I have never had a site reaction. These pens are so easy that Danielle will give me my injections.
I am doing well. Work is good..it definately has lifted my spirit to get out and do something productive outside of the home (where it is appreciated...or at least rewarded!). Physically I have been doing good. 12 hr shifts are hard and I rarely do them but I mostly work 8s. I dont move quite as fast as I used to and I do feel other things in my life slipping as far a my memory and getting things done on my days off. I keep up with the house and the laundry. I cook occaisionally. I have been meaning to call and set up a Dr.s appt for weeks now. I cant seem to get on the ball with that sort of stuff. But all in all...things are good. I am so happy to be back in my old neigborhood and in a bigger house. I think being out in the boonies in that shack of a house was really getting me down. It is hard to explain, but I just felt so isolated there and the neighbors were nice but very intent on talking about how much money they had and, well....it was just weird.
Liz...I told you a long time ago...it hurts like hell in the theigh!!! I can see why it hurts less in the arm! I still go for the belly. Lots of subcutaneous tissue there for sure! I have done the Humira shot in my arm when I was using a syringe and needle and the next day my hand on that arm was huge and I couldnt close it. My RD said he didnt think it was related, but he also said he didnt think that there was a connection between my hand swelling on the arm of my Remicade infusion. And that happened every time, regardless of the arm we had the IV in.
Anywho..I dont go to him anymore. I like my new guy. He wouldnt release me back to work and so I had to get my release from my knee surgeon. But it makes me feel like my RD is trying to look out for me. I know if I was working 5 days a week or on any schedule that was not flexible it would be difficult to hold down a job for long. I didnt go into the details of things with him though.
So Liz...how is Danielle doing so far? What meds is she taking right now? What are the plans for the future as far as meds go?
Danielle like the rest of us does very well when she isn't flaring up. My biggest fight with her right now is the day after she comes out of a flare up and getting her to take it easy that first day she is feeling better. Major blow out last week over that.
She is still on 10mg of pred daily. Without it at this point, I don't think she would be doing very well. She is still taking 200mg of celebrex. Don't really know if that is doing the trick or if it is the pred. She does flare with the weather and there have been a couple of times I have upped her to 15mg of pred so she can have some relief. As far as the future goes...not sure. He does not want her on pred long term at all since it affects the kids growth. She is a petite person to begin with. As it stands now (no pun intended lol) our doc doesn't expect her to be any more than 5'3 at the most. So they want her to get as much undamaged growth as possible. Protocol is mtx next. That doesn't work then add Enbrel or Kineret.
She is like the rest of us. When she feels good she is her normal busy active self with fatigue that sets in if she overdoes it. Think it is hard as an adult to learn not to overdo? Try being 12 and learning that. She has learned to watch the weather and plan things around that since she knows she flares with the weather. Poor kid. 12 years old and has to plan her life around RA already. UGH!!! Crunchy, It is nice to see you on the board again.
Grammaskittles...I have surmised from different posts I've read that Danielle is your daughter and she also has RA. I didn't realize till now that she was so young. That's gotta be rough. It must be huge for her though to have a mom who really understands from experience what RA is like. At age twelve, if it wasn't RA, you be batteling over something else
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