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Surgery and Humira

I have been on Humira for about six months now and I know that it is really helped me so far. However, I am having surgery in about two weeks and I was told not to take my next injection on Feb 4th. I am just wondering if anyone has stoped using Humira for a short time and got sick or had a flare? I will be taking Humira again once I have recovered from surgery (so porbably some time in March).

Thanks y'all!
 
Im on Humira (3.5 years) didnt take it for around 3-4 weeks as i was overseas and i was fine, no flare at all. Best of luck :)
 
I'd be extra Careful with diet and crohns flare triggers like stress etc. But I haven't been off Humira as of yet. But I wish you the best of luck with your surgery.
 

PsychoJane

Moderator
Well, they did stop my humira prior to surgery as well... and I just never took it since (it's been 9 months so far). It's not me being rebel that is what both me and my GI agreed on but the point is don't worry too much about it. If your disease is relatively under control (mine was localized and that was the purpose of the surgery, to remove that part), it should be fine. As Scaryman said, avoid the triggers but don't worry too much.
Good luck with the surgery
 
Hi, take a look at this video I have below in my tag. This should answer your questions, there are reasons they want you to stop taking Humira and the video discusses it. For my surgery I stopped Humira for a total of 7 weeks, and I tapered Prednisone to 20mg. Prednisone is the one you really have to worry about due to the extra stress doses they give you, it's a nightmare and caused me to be in the cardiac unit for 4 days after my surgery. The recommendation is that if you are off Humira for more than 6 weeks you have to do the starter package all over again. I refused and just said I would continue my normal dosage. The thing you have to worry about when starting again is it will prolong the amount of time your wounds heal so don't start too quickly. I would recommend waiting until they get the results back from what they remove out of you, only in certain situations should you restart Humira. In my case I have severe Fistulating disease and the recurrence is near 80% so I am forced to stay on it, but you may not need to.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
I didn't stop taking Humira, because I was not told to by my idiot surgeon. I had several serious infections and 12 surgeries trying to clear the infections. I have now been off of Humira for almost 3 years (because I am not done with having surgery) and I am still in remission
 
Hi i had surgery and was taken off humira a month before i went under the knife.. 2 months after surgery and things were looking good i went back on humira.. please be very careful about being off of meds completely. There are some that stay in remission after surgery but then majority of people who try to take nothing end up worst than where they were before.
 
please be very careful about being off of meds completely. There are some that stay in remission after surgery but then majority of people who try to take nothing end up worst than where they were before.
Sounds like very good advice.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
spcwife23, I agree with you 100 %, its not safe to be off of the meds, I am only off of them because I have been having surgery after surgery for the last 3 years. I will be going back on them when my surgeries wrap in May. I just wanted to make sure I was not misunderstood, I am not advocating anyone staying off meds, I was just saying that so far, I have been fortunate to not have any problems
 
Location
NB, Canada
I just had surgery 2 weeks ago, Jan 28th. My surgeon made me stop all medications a month before. Humira, Prednisone and even all of my vitimans (B12, D, and calcium). Luckly no obstructions or flares occured which I was worried about happening as in the month prior I had 4 seperate times where I was obstructed, one of them landed me in the hospital for a few days. So to be safe, I was extremely careful about what I ate for that month!
 
Thanks y'all! I just had the surgery yesterday and all is well. I have an apt with my gi sometime in early march so I will discuss it with him then. I think that I will be able to reduce to once a month.
 

PsychoJane

Moderator
Hmm, humira once a month is not usually a good idea. Unless things have changed (I have not made researches since may 2012). Reducing the interval seems to enhance the chances you have to built antibodies to it.

Good luck with you recovery! I hope for you everything will go smoothly :)
 
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