Humira day!
Apr. 6th, 2011 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayAfter several weeks of tests and paperwork and stress, yesterday was Humira Day. Woo!
To treat Crohn's and colitis, the standard thing is to do a big loading dose on week 0, then a smaller loading dose on week 2, and then a normal dose from week 4 - I'll be taking this stuff every two weeks. The big loading dose is 4z the normal dose, the second dose is 2x.
Yes, that means that I got to inject myself four times yesterday. It was good to be able to practise so much :-) I think this is the first time the nurse had done Humira for a colitis patient - she's used to people with psoriasis and arthritis, who start at the normal dose and just continue.
It all went surprisingly smoothly. I didn't even get too cranky about working from home all day and then not having the nurse arrive until 5pm. I'm using injector pens rather than syringes so it's all pretty easy. Took the Humira out of the fridge about fifteen minutes before she arrived, which gives it a chance to warm up a little so that it won't sting as badly going in.
In fact, it didn't hurt much at all. I'd been reading all these horror stories about insanely painful it is to take this stuff and, er, it just barely stung. Either my pain threshold is wackily high or I'm a very good candidate for injections.
The nurse hung out for a while afterwards, in case I had a bad reaction, and took my blood pressure a couple of times before declaring me OK. She had adrenalin with her just in case I had an anaphylactic reaction, isn't that comforting?
Thankfully, there is no sign of any bad reaction. Not even the itchy red welt at the injection sites that a lot of people get. So it looks like I'll tolerate the Humira well. Let's just hope that it actually works - tolerating a drug that doesn't work is no more helpful than being allergic to something that does work!
The only one that is causing a problem is the last site, where I nicked a tiny vessel as the needle withdrew. It bled a bit and has now formed a small yet exquisitely painful bruise.
Unfortunately, the bruise is right where the waistband of my trousers goes. D'oh! I'm working from home today because I'm feeling a bit icky (tired, headache), which is apparently normal after the huge loading dose. It also means that I can wear PJ trousers today rather than something pressing on my bruise, so that's a win.
It's good to finally be getting going with this. At least it's one source of stress gone. Now to try not to get stressed about wondering whether it's working!
To treat Crohn's and colitis, the standard thing is to do a big loading dose on week 0, then a smaller loading dose on week 2, and then a normal dose from week 4 - I'll be taking this stuff every two weeks. The big loading dose is 4z the normal dose, the second dose is 2x.
Yes, that means that I got to inject myself four times yesterday. It was good to be able to practise so much :-) I think this is the first time the nurse had done Humira for a colitis patient - she's used to people with psoriasis and arthritis, who start at the normal dose and just continue.
It all went surprisingly smoothly. I didn't even get too cranky about working from home all day and then not having the nurse arrive until 5pm. I'm using injector pens rather than syringes so it's all pretty easy. Took the Humira out of the fridge about fifteen minutes before she arrived, which gives it a chance to warm up a little so that it won't sting as badly going in.
In fact, it didn't hurt much at all. I'd been reading all these horror stories about insanely painful it is to take this stuff and, er, it just barely stung. Either my pain threshold is wackily high or I'm a very good candidate for injections.
The nurse hung out for a while afterwards, in case I had a bad reaction, and took my blood pressure a couple of times before declaring me OK. She had adrenalin with her just in case I had an anaphylactic reaction, isn't that comforting?
Thankfully, there is no sign of any bad reaction. Not even the itchy red welt at the injection sites that a lot of people get. So it looks like I'll tolerate the Humira well. Let's just hope that it actually works - tolerating a drug that doesn't work is no more helpful than being allergic to something that does work!
The only one that is causing a problem is the last site, where I nicked a tiny vessel as the needle withdrew. It bled a bit and has now formed a small yet exquisitely painful bruise.
Unfortunately, the bruise is right where the waistband of my trousers goes. D'oh! I'm working from home today because I'm feeling a bit icky (tired, headache), which is apparently normal after the huge loading dose. It also means that I can wear PJ trousers today rather than something pressing on my bruise, so that's a win.
It's good to finally be getting going with this. At least it's one source of stress gone. Now to try not to get stressed about wondering whether it's working!
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 02:11 pm (UTC)Do you have any work appropriate dresses? That would help with the bruise being at your waist. I would lend you a few but you would be swimming in them :)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 02:32 pm (UTC)The prednisone has been controlling my symptoms fairly well for the last couple of weeks apart from a bit of break-through bleeding. Plan is that I will now start tapering down, 5mg per week, and we'll see what happens. The last time, I noticed cramping and bleeding at 25mg. So basically, if I get down to there (in around three weeks time) without issues then we can declare it's working and continue the taper.
I'm kind of hoping that the mind-numbing exhaustion, related to my body being all inflammy, will go away much faster than that.
Me? Own dresses? *laughs hysterically* I really should look into that if this kind of thing will be happening regularly...
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 12:31 pm (UTC)She does give me hope, though, if she stayed in total remission for that long :-) If we can just get me to remission, that would be wonderful. I miss feeling normal.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 01:03 pm (UTC)I get to do this every two weeks, so everything that I can do to make it easier will be worth it :-)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 08:06 pm (UTC)