Woof! These past 4 years have been a roller coaster on Humira. For those who are new here, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 2014/2015 and I have failed 4 other medicines.
A quick highlight recap:
- Started Humira in October 2018
- Stopped Humira before surgery in April 2019
- Had small bowel resection surgery in May 2019 and resumed Humira in July 2019.
- Finally started feeling better in August 2019.
- Felt continuously better from August 2019 to October 2021.
- Started having some stomach pains in October 2021 and realized I was in the middle of a major flare in November 2021. Decreased dosage of Humira to once every 10 days (instead of every 14 days) flare was intense- mostly fatigue and stomach pains.
- This was the first time I had actual stomach pain since being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease
- This dosing schedule helped a lot from November 2021 to May 2022. I started not feeling my greatest again and the dosing schedule was reduced again in June 2022 to every 7 days.
I do have a worry in the back of my mind, that with this dosing schedule, once a week, might be the beginning of the end of the use of this medicine. I have failed so many previous medicines and while fingers crossed this has definitely worked the longest, I am worried what comes next. I know people who have been on Humira for decades and they have been doing great. I hope that is the same for me.
I think what aids in the positive results of Humira is coupling it with Imuran, a daily pill that works in conjunction with Humira to help it last to the next dose. While I have been lucky that getting to the next dose, lately, hasn't been a problem, and I truly hope it continues this way for a while.
To read more about my Crohn's Disease Journey, you can find all the Crohn's Confidential posts here.
If you are wondering, you can read about my last Humira Update which was two years ago.
[[Some day all of this will make sense. ]]
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