Well I finally have a new Rheumy who is very nice....who listens and explains things! He was going to put me on MTX, because if insurance requirements, but my wonderful Derm actually called him and explained she could start me on Humira right away w/o going thru the MTX first! (My Psoriasis is out of control!) SO.....I get the Humira delivered tomorrow morning and I am excited and a bit nervous....doing 2 injections to start, then 8 days later another and then go to every 2 weeks. I'm hoping/praying this will kick the Psoriasis and PSA into remission for a bit but concerned about side effects.....
If there are side effects, will I know immediately or do they build up?
Sunshine, lucky you! A derm who will collaborate with your rheum to get you on the aggressive treatment asap! Side effects with the biologics are, in fact, rare. The patient information is bound by law to tell you everything that could possibly happen. So relax, and think positively. Most people experience fewer side effects from the biologics than from the other DMARDs, because the biologics are so carefully engineered to target what’s causing your PsA. The most likely negative effect is a site reaction – an itchy red area where you injected. It took months for those to disappear with me. Now, I have a small itchy patch which is gone in a couple of hours.
Let us know how it goes!
I used benadryl cream (well, the generic version from Walmart) and that helped a lot. A good glob of cream, rub it in until it disappears and repeat as necessary. No point in medicating your whole body for a patch of a few square inches.
So, my first doses under my belt......one I hardly felt, the other got my attention! Weird.... I have noticed that all my "sores" itch like crazy! Wondering if it is like a scab when it heals?? The PSA hasn't been too bad.....we'll see.....
So...I have been dealing with depression for many years now......it reared its ugly head again on Fri and has been relentless.....had a HUMILIATING day at work yesterday.....major face peel and then looked like a scalded pig! Overslept and missed a staff mtg......hardly anyone spoke to me at all yesterday....I have always been the reliable one....the one people came to for help....this is just so hard to walk into everyday feeling people have blown me off.....if she's here great...if not oh well......they have NO idea how hard it is to just get there by 10! Sorry.....just needed to blow off steam.....
For many of us, depression is a part of the PsA picture. I battled for years, the only real let up being when I went on Enbrel. I really do believe that some of us have brains that get inflammation along with the rest of our bodies.
Hang in there, Sunshine, and hope you’ll start feeling better soon.