New to Humira

[appleve]

Hi, I am new to this forum. Started taking Humira this week. I was diagnosed with UC in 1998 and had been fine on just sulfasalazine for many years. In 2010, my foot blew up like a balloon, turned red, was incredibly painful. After ruling out everything else (infection, spider bite, blood clot, etc) they decided it was related to my UC. My intestinal symptoms also started coming back. This year, my doctor did a new colonoscopy and changed my diagnosis to Crohn's. He tried increasing the sulfasalazine and added methotrexate but it didn't work. Over a year later, I still have a swollen, painful foot, not to mention all the other stuff that goes along with Crohn's. So, to make a loooong and boring story short, that is how I ended up on Humira.

My question is, for those of you on Humira, how long did it take for you to see an effect? I'm feeling better today, but I don't want to jinx it...not sure if it is actually the meds or me hoping the meds are working, you know?

 

[beth]

I know exactly what you mean. Really. Have hope tho because I noticed changes for the good in 4 days from my initial loading doses.

However, be aware that if the goodness tails off perhaps as early as 2 - 4 months time you may need to go on to weekly maintenance doses to gain and keep remission.
Good luck, hope it works well for you.

 

[appleve]

Thanks Beth. I am feeling better. Second round of shots much easier than the first, probably because I was in my familiar environment (sitting on the couch with my purring cats and encouragement from my fiance).

I don't have a noticeable limp anymore and my foot is looking more like a foot and less like a balloon, although it still hurts.

I was feeling really really dizzy at first on the Humira, but I'm not sure that it was a side effect of it or perhaps going off the methotrexate or maybe something else altogether. I was also unfortunate to contract Lyme disease for the second time right before going on the Humira, so maybe it was that, I don't know. Thankfully, it cleared up after a few weeks of antibiotics. The dizziness is much less now thankfully.

 

[malone2746]

Oh my goodness appleve, when I read about your foot I about fell out of my chair. I to had a similiar problem back in 2006. My foot got so big the skin was pealing off and the pain was horrendous. I couldn't bear any weight on it and I lost track of how many tests and doctors I went through trying to find relief. It finally went away on its own though my foot is still discolored. I did start to have problems with it last year around this time but as before it just went away. The only thing I was ever told was that after they did a biopsy the only thing it showed was that the tissue was dead. I questioned whether it had something to do with my Crohns disease but no one would ever say yes or no. While I can't offer you any help, it's reassuring to know that I'm not alone with this.