New to humira

[carey]

For the last year i have been on remicade, but it stopped working, so now my doc is gonna put me on humira, im just looking for others that are on humira, what are your experiences? How often do you go through flare ups while on the medicine? Can you eat normally, or did you have to change your diet? And anything else you could tell me, thanks

 

[Jennifer]

I've been taking it for about 2 months now and haven't had a flare. At most I'm starting to have a reaction (red itchy sort of small welt) at the injection site but I just take a Benadryll and it goes away. I'm told this reaction is common. I was in remission when I started it and still am. No I never changed my diet. I eat whatever I want. Whenever I was in a flare though I'd follow the low residue diet but that's it because its straight forward and really easy to follow. I haven't found food to be related to my illness at all (I only do the diet thing to reduce my symptoms during a flare which I've only had to do about 3 times since my diagnosis). If diets help you, then go for it but whatever works with one person may not work for others so keep that in mind.

 

[Avw]

I was on Humira for 2-3 years and it worked pretty well, sometimes a little TOO well as I would often feel constipated. Although, constipation in my world is not going 5 times a day! I was able to follow a fairly normal diet while on it, I could even occasionally eat things that are normally off limits for me such as red meat or fried foods. I don't know if it has this effect on everyone, but it did make me gain a good bit of weight. Which wasn't entirely bad because I was pretty skinny before.

I'm not sure how proactive you or your doctor are about monitoring your vitamin/mineral levels but I would be sure to stay on top of these, as well as your kidney and liver function. One of my friends is still on Humira and said it never helped her until she started taking it along with Azathioprine and B-12 injections.. Besides, making sure you have proper nutrition is NEVER a bad thing, and you would be amazed at the difference it can make.

Wish you the best of luck and hope it works well for you!

 

[Jennifer]

Reminds me that I do get monthly blood work to check out inflammation levels and liver function. I have my GP run all my vitamin levels when I request it. They never check them on their own unless they think there's a problem. :/