my son (28) has been on Humira for CD for 2+ years (1 pen / 2wks) - Dr is increasing dosage to 1 pen / wk /// is that considered a high dosage and does it come w/ significantly more risks?
Ds started humira at age 9
Once every two weeks
Then switched to every 10 days after a year
Then every week after another year or so and finally every 5 days
He was able to be in humira for over 5 years
No increase in risk
Risk is simply from taking the med
No issues in 5 years
He was also on mtx (due to juvenile arthritis as well as crohns )
He had to have minor surgery (non crohns ) and held humira which made it stop working when he restarted
Switched to Stelara at 14 (almost 3 years ago )
so for him biologics (even at higherfrequency has not presented a problem
Fwiw he is on Stelara 90 mg every 4 weeks and has been for 2.5 years
Your caloprotectin levels have been high since 2018
Not even close to normal even on humira
Normal fecal caloprotectin is under 150 for crohns patients and under 50 for everyone else
My child has crohns not me
His fecal caloprotectin was only above 150 once in 5 years on humira (up to 230) then dropped right back down to below 15 so yes his inflammation was under control the entire time .
The majority of adults who are older (over 50) have issues with there teeth . This not a crohns issue but a age issue and genetics
My kiddos teeth are fine after 10 years of crohns
He did need to switch to Stelara after 5 years on humira
I've been on weekly humira (one 40mg pen every week) for a year now. I have zero side effects and my UC is in clinical remission (my labs are normal..still waiting on a follow up colonoscopy).
I don't think going to weekly humira from bi-weekly necessarily has any added risks. Many of the reasons patients go to weekly is to maintain acceptable drug levels that can't be accomplished from taking it every 2 weeks. In many cases patients process/burn through the drug much faster. Additionally, weekly humira is more common than you think and not necessarily a high dose. A high dose would be someone taking it every 5 days or 2 pens per week.