I am getting my first Humira injection tomorrow, would just like to hear from you that are already on Humira, how long did it take before you felt the benefits of the drug, and what were the benefits?
My RA is not too severe yet, my hands, wrists, elbows, toes and ankles are affected, lots of numbness and or throbing pain.
So looking forward to getting some pain relief.
I've been on Humira for three years and I remember it took a while - a couple months, I think. And Ronie is right. Be prepared for the sting. Humira contains citric acid as a preservative and it stings enough that it makes your eyes sweat (I often swear quite a bit while it goes in). However, it doesn't last long and the benefits are more than worth it.
Good luck! I hope it works well for you.
I am only on Humira, but do receive occasional steroid injections which I've noticed seems to give Humira a boost from working well into working great. I think your doctor is very smart to make sure that there is a bridge between medications, which should hopefully keep you from flaring in between one leaving your body and the other kicking in. Combination therapy of two or more DMARDs at a time is quite common - again, two medications can work better than one, so you may find that your body will need continue to need the extra boost from e.g., small dose of prednisone and/or Arava.
Do you have the automatic pen injecter or the kind that you have to push the plunger on the suringe yourself?
The reason I ask this is because the Pen will be a painful surprise. I had been on Enbrel for 6 years before switching to the Humira pen. I can only say, if you can get the "do it yourself" regular ole needles then do it.
Other than that, it takes a while to start feeling the results of Humira or any of the other Bio meds. It usually takes about a month or more and your doctor will tell you 3 months because everyone is different. Since your RA is not too bad then you may start to feel the effects sooner.
The bio meds are not like pain killers that you can feel when they start working. They will gradually take the pain and swelling down and you may not notice unless you are keeping a pain journal or looking for something (like a the swelling in one particular knuckle to go down.) The first place I felt it was in my feet as it became less painful to walk.
Good luck to ya,
Ronie
i didn't last to long on it about 6 months it was just too painful for me. it also really didn't benefit me much as a treatment.
I have been taking humira for almost 3 yrs now(syringe). The med does sting everyone is right, but I have learned that if you ice the spot, I have to do in my tummy, for about 10 mins then my hubby injects it in real slow for me and that seems to help with the stinging. Then ice for a few again after. I think it took me about 3 months to start feeling the benefits from it. I learned from the imitrex pen injections that the pen hurts so I had to ask my doc for the syringe! Good luck hope the info helps!
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The shot did sting, I just have the needles, the Doc made me do it myself in her office, as she wanted me to feel confident giving myself an injection, she said I should feel some benefit in the first month, however she still has me on Arava and Prednisone, she said it would be better to wean me off these meds, rather than just taking the Humira alone, are either of you on other meds besides the Humira?
Sylvia