Has anyone ever gone back to fortnightly?

[peleburrows]

Hey all

I've just been upped to a weekly dose from fortnightly. I'm a bit reluctant to, may be its me being pig ignorant, but I think a massive portion of my Crohn's is down to stress (+ lifestyle and diet) and I often have a niggling feeling that psychological/environmental/nutritional issues are being treated with hardcore drugs.

Anyway those are my thoughts of where I am and my question is, has anyone gone up to weekly and then reduced back to fortnightly or even stopped taking it altogether because it wasn't needed anymore as oppose to stopped working?

 

[LauraGrace]

I've been on Humira since 2007. Over the years there have been a few times that they have upped by dose to weekly, but it is usually short term (a few months) then back to bi-weekly. I did also go off of the drug for 9-10 months. But I later found out that that is not recommended. There is a big chance that if you stop taking it, if you go back on it again later, it may not be effective. So it is best to continue taking it to maintain remission. At least that it what a couple of doctors have told me (different doctors than the one who took me off Humira for the 9-10 months) I'm glad I tried going off the Humira though, it would have been nice to do without it. But I had a huge flare with fistula that developed in those months, so I think I'm stuck with the Humira for however long it continues to work for me.

 

[PsychoJane]

Hmmm,
I know it is possible to do it weekly and then going to bi-weekly later. When I first switched to weekly use, my GI had told me it was possibly only for a 1-3 months until we would gain back control. He had also started a co-administration of methotrexate and it was a possibility that I could go back on weekly regiment once my immune system would have been lowered if I may say. This never happened in my case.

Even though it may be possible, I believe it is rare because the reason you go on weekly regimen is often linked with the fact you are building antibodies to the anti-tnf and therefore the treatment lose of its effectiveness. This may be a point to clarify with you physician. When it comes to stopping the treatment, as LauraGrace mentioned, you are likely to encounter a diminished response to the treatment for the same reason I just mentioned. So it is to be avoided when the treatment works well for you.

 

[Ian]

Hi,

Yes you can go back down to fortnightly after taking it weekly for a period of time. I have been on it weekly for nearly 2 ½ years which I’ve just this afternoon discovered (from my IBD nurse) is some kind of mistake (3-6 months is normally how long they do weekly for), even though when they ask me what meds I take at the beginning of every appointment I have said Humira weekly every single time. Actual morons. Might explain some rashy skin I’ve been getting for the past 9 months! Anyway, I’m back down to fortnightly as of today and hoping all remains well, I hear all too often that adjusting the dose down can result in a later adjustment up not working as well as it did before…

 

[peleburrows]

Thanks guys really useful hearing your experiences